Post by TsarSamuil on Nov 25, 2018 14:49:06 GMT -5

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) says three Ukrainian navy vessels, violated its border on Sunday morning, and are heading for Kerch Strait that lies between Crimea and mainland Russia.

“This morning at around 7 a.m. Moscow time, three vessels belonging to Ukrainian armed forces violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea... to cross the Russian border,” read a statement from Russia’s federal security agency FSB, which is responsible for maintaining the country’s borders.

It said that the ships are sailing towards the Crimea Bridge, but have made no application to pass under it.

“The vessels are undertaking dangerous maneuvers, and are not obeying lawful instructions from the Russian authorities.”

Adding that they are taking “all necessary security measures” FSB also made public a series of photos of the Ukrainian vessels being escorted by larger Russian patrol ships.

“The purpose of these provocative actions by the Ukrainian navy is to create a conflict situation in the region,” said a statement from the FSB headquarters in Moscow.

The Ukrainian side, which does not recognize Crimea as Russian territory, or the status of its territorial waters, also accused the border forces of a “provocation” during what it said was a planned and routine vessel transfer between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, which the Kerch Strait separates.

Accusing Moscow of “openly aggressive actions,” the Ukrainian Navy said through its Facebook page that one of the Russian ships rammed its tugboat that accompanied the two armored artillery boats, inflicting significant damage on the vessel.

While tensions between the two navies have run high since Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia in 2014, they have particularly escalated this year.

The Russian Nord fishing vessel was detained by Ukrainian border guards in March, while the Mekhanik Pogodin oil tanker has been held in the Ukrainian port of Kherson since August, as a result of Kiev-imposed sanctions against Moscow.

Russia has accused Ukraine of “marine terrorism” and in return, its vessels have been subjected to more regular inspections while moving through the Kerch Strait.

In September, Moscow accused another military ship belonging to Ukraine of violating its marine exclusive economic zone, and escorted them out of its waters.

Tensions are running high around the Kerch Strait, separating Crimea from mainland Russia after Ukrainian vessels violated the Russian border. The passage was blocked by a cargo ship and fighter jets were scrambled.

The Russian authorities have taken some drastic measures in an attempt to prevent any provocations from the Ukrainian Navy ships that have approached the Kerch Strait while sailing through the Russian territorial waters without authorization.

Russia has literally stopped all navigation through the waterway using a cargo ship. Videos from the scene released by the Russian media show a large bulk freighter accompanied by two Russian military boats standing under the arch of the Crimea Bridge and blocking the only passage through the strait.

Russian Air Force Su-25 strike fighters have also been scrambled to provide additional security for the strait as the situation remains tense. The move came as five Ukrainian Navy ships are approaching the strait from two different sides.

Initially, two Ukrainian artillery boats and a tugboat approached the strait from the Black Sea while “undertaking dangerous maneuvers” and defying the lawful orders of the Russian border guards. Later, they were joined by two more military vessels that departed from a Ukrainian Azov Sea port of Berdyansk sailing to the strait from the other side.

Russia’s federal security agency FSB, which is responsible for maintaining the country’s borders, denounced the actions of the Ukrainian ships as a provocation, adding that they could create a “conflict situation” in the region. According to the Russian media reports, the Ukrainian vessels are still sailing towards the strait, ignoring the warnings of the Russian border guards.

A Russian border guard ship has rammed a Ukrainian vessel as a dramatic chase unfolded in the Black Sea. Three Ukrainian ships were seized after they entered Russia’s territorial waters without proper notification.

The video taken from one of the Russian ships shows the moment two Ukraine’s artillery boats and a tugboat were maneuvering dangerously close to Russia’s vessels.

The incident came as the Ukrainian Navy ships crossed into the Russian territorial waters without authorization, seeking to pass through the Kerch Strait that separates Crimea from the Russian mainland. The actions of the Ukrainian vessels prompted the Russian border guards to intervene.

More detailed footage later circulated online, giving a glimpse on the situation from the sailors’ perspective. The crew of the Russian ship saw their vessel move dangerously close to a smaller Ukrainian one, its bow turning directly towards the Ukrainian vessel. It became clear that the collision was imminent, despite Russian sailors trying hard to prevent it. In seconds the Russian ship rammed into the Ukrainian vessel, but luckily, it somehow remained afloat.

The Ukranian ships were sailing between two Ukrainian ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway that connects these is the Kerch Strait. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area.

Moscow denies that it was given any warning, forcing the Russian military to use weapons to stop the vessels. The three Ukrainian ships were then seized and towed to the Kerch port, according to the Russian Security Service (FSB).

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. All traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, and every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

As tensions escalated around the situation in the Kerch Strait, Russia called an emergency UN Security Council meeting, while Ukrainian President wants to declare martial law, pending approval by the national parliament.

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Ukrainian vessels heading to Kerch Strait from Azov Sea on way to their port – FSB.

RT.com25 Nov, 2018 21:10

A group of Ukrainian Navy ships that were approaching the Kerch Strait lying between Crimea and mainland Russia have retraced their course and are returning to their ports, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

This group departed from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk on the Azov sea to the east of Crimea straight around 11.30 Moscow Time (08.30 GMT) on Sunday and set a course for the Kerch Strait. A few hours before that another group of vessels entered Russian territorial waters from the west Crimea. They hadn't made proper application for passing through the Kerch Strait. They refused to follow orders from the Russian Border Guard vessels.

The video released by Russian authorities show border guard ships pursuing Ukrainian vessels that maneuvered dangerously close to them.

The Ukrainian Navy said that its vessels were sailing as part of a scheduled routine transfer, at some point, adding that it warned the Russian authorities about it in advance. The Ukrainian military also accused Russian border guards of firing at their ships and seizing three of them.

Now, the FSB said it has obtained “irrefutable evidence” of a provocation planned by the Ukrainian Navy.

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. Because all traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

Russia has confirmed its vessels have used weapons to stop Ukrainian ships that had entered Russian waters in the Black Sea illegally. Three Ukrainian sailors were wounded and have been given medical assistance.

The Ukrainian vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway that connects the two is the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev says it has notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area. Moscow denies it had been given the warning.

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. Because all traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

The three Ukrainian vessels – the ‘Berdiansk’, the ‘Nikopol’ and the ‘Yany Kapu’ – were ignoring "legal demands to stop" and "performing dangerous maneuvers," and the Russian warships had to open fire to force them to stop, the FSB says. The ships were then seized and towed to the Crimean port of Kerch.

Three Ukrainian sailors, injured in the altercation, were given medical assistance by Russian servicemen. Their lives are out of danger.

Russia has launched a criminal investigation of the border breach.

Following the clash at sea, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko proposed to declare martial law in the country. The proposal has been approved by the Ukrainian National Security Council, and will go before parliament on Monday for final approval.

NATO has urged both parties to show restraint. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement that NATO has been “closely monitoring developments in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait,” while voicing support to Ukraine.

“NATO fully supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity, including its navigation rights in its territorial waters,” the statement read.

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Ukraine to declare martial law after sea clash with Russia.

RT.com25 Nov, 2018 22:37

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he will propose declaring martial law in the wake of an altercation in the Black Sea that saw Russian military seize Ukrainian vessels for breaching Russian territorial waters.

On Sunday, three Ukrainan vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway that connects these is the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area. Moscow denies that it was given proper warning.

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. Because all traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

Russian ships opened fire to stop the three Ukrainian boats after they ignored "legal demands to stop" and performed "dangerous maneuvers," said the Russian Security Service (FSB). The ships were then seized and towed to the Crimean port of Kerch.

Around midnight, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko instructed the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) to convene for an emergency meeting proposing to impose martial law. The council has moved forward with the motion and declared martial law for 60 days. The motion will now go before the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for final approval.

The Ukrainian leader says Kiev does not plan to carry out any offensive operations if martial law is imposed.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Poroshenko said that Kiev has asked NATO and the EU to “coordinate our actions to ensure the protection of Ukraine.”

“We appeal to the whole pro-Ukrainian international coalition: We must unite efforts,” Poroshenko said, adding that he would discuss further steps with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.

Talks with the leaders of Ukraine-allied countries have also been planned for Monday, he said.

Poroshenko sought to assure the public that Kiev’s decision to impose martial law will not infringe upon the rights and freedoms of its citizens, noting that Ukraine will only carry out defensive actions to protect its territory and people.

He claimed that the imposition of martial law will not affect the standoff in the breakaway Lugansk and Donetsk Republics, which have been in a shaky state of truce with Kiev.

On Monday afternoon, the Ukrainian leader demanded Russia releases the sailors and ships as a “first step to deescalate the situation in the Azov Sea.” Russian officials earlier said that several sailors were injured in the incident on the Black Sea and were taken to hospital.

Moscow has not responded to Poroshenko’s statement so far.

Martial law with a looming election

Martial law allows the Ukrainian government to limit a range of civil freedoms otherwise protected by the constitution, such as the freedom of the press, freedom of movement, and the freedom of assembly.

Under martial law, Kiev can, for instance, introduce restrictions on travel up to barring residents from leaving the country altogether. Martial law also envisages stricter control at border checkpoints, which may include thorough searches of vehicles, cargo, and other belongings.

The move also allows for increased control over the media. Publications, TV and radio channels can be shut down if considered to constitute a threat to Ukraine’s national security.

Martial law gives authorities the right to ban peaceful rallies, protests and demonstrations, as well as other mass actions. It also potentially allows banning activities by political parties and public associations.

In addition, neither the upcoming presidential, nor parliamentary elections can be held with martial law in place. However, since martial law can only last for 60 days unless extended, it is set to expire before the votes, which are scheduled for March and October respectively.

The proposed martial law comes some four months ahead of a presidential election in Ukraine, with Poroshenko’s ratings hitting rock bottom. According to a recent poll, only 7.8 percent of Ukrainians are ready to cast their ballots for the incumbent leader in the March vote. The race is being topped by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with some 18.5 percent of the vote. Poroshenko is even trailing behind a famous Ukrainian comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is in second place with 10.8 percent – despite the fact that he hasn't yet confirmed if he is running.

Scores of protesters gathered outside of the Russian embassy in Kiev on Sunday to protest against Russia's response to three Ukrainian vessels breaching Russian waters in the Kerch Strait earlier during the day.

Post by TsarSamuil on Nov 26, 2018 13:23:56 GMT -5

According to the FSB, the ships which illegally crossed Russia's border and were detained in the Black Sea will be taken to Kerch. The FSB claimed that the actions by the Ukrainian military are a provocation prepared by Kiev.

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Ukraine puts army on ‘full combat alert’ after naval clash with Russia off Crimea.

RT.com26 Nov, 2018 04:53

Ukraine has placed its troops on full combat alert, as MPs in Kiev are set to approve President Petro Poroshenko’s proposal to impose martial law following a skirmish between the Russian military and Ukrainian vessels near Crimea.

The decision to put the Ukrainian armed forces on the highest level of alert came after the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) supported Poroshenko’s earlier proposal to invoke martial law for 60 days.

The move is now awaiting the approval of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, who will be voting on the motion on Monday.

“Based on the NSDC decision to impose martial law, the head of the General Staff – the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – has ordered to put all units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on full combat alert,” reads a statement released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Monday.

On sunday, Russia opened fire and seized three Ukrainian Navy vessels – two artillery boats and a tugboat. It says that these were breaching the Russian maritime border and trying to pass through the Kerch Strait, a narrow waterway between mainland Russia and Crimea, which connects Ukrainian ports in the Black and the Azov seas.

The Russian coastguard said that the vessels had not given proper notification of their passage and repeatedly ignored warnings and “legal demands” to stop. Three Ukrainian crew members were injured in the altercation, and were treated by Russian medics.

Kiev insists that it had given proper notice to the Russian side ahead of what it describes as a planned routine maneuver. It is now demanding the release of the ships and their crew, as well as compensation for the damage inflicted.

The Ukrainian government has asked its allies, including NATO and the EU, to retaliate against what Kiev describes as Russian “aggression,” calling on its Western backers to tighten existing sanctions and impose new measures against Russia, as well as providing Kiev with “military assistance to protect its territorial integrity.”

Poroshenko said, however, that martial law does not mean that Ukraine is now in a state of war with Russia.

Ukraine’s government set the stage for the Kerch Strait standoff to trigger an international row, win sympathies of the West and allow President Poroshenko to cement power in the 2019 elections, top Russian officials have said.

Moscow is urging Ukraine’s Western backers “to calm down those who try to score political points” ahead of the March 2019 presidential elections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media on Monday. He suggested that the tense maritime encounter, off the Crimean coast, was premeditated by Kiev.

The whole incident was staged “upon a blessing, or at least, according to a direct order from top leadership [of Ukraine],” the minister maintained. The government in Kiev “were calculating benefits” from the provocative act, hoping that the US and Europe “will unconditionally side with the provocateur.”

Lavrov advised Kiev “to behave in a saner way” as Western powers “are increasingly embarrassed by the Ukrainian leadership.”

The remarks were echoed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who also said the timing of the mid-sea clash was notable in terms of upcoming events. “This decision feels like an electoral intrigue, given the situation in Ukraine,” he opined.

The presidential aide warned that it would be “wrong and dangerous to achieve any electoral objectives by waving the banner of war.”

Mounting tensions in the Kerch Strait would allow President Petro Poroshenko to cement power and win popular support in March’s presidential elections, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said earlier on Monday.

The goal was also to “shake Ukraine up by introducing martial law, fan anti-Russia sentiments in the West and tighten the sanctions [imposed on Moscow],” according to the diplomat. The timing of the incident was also notable in terms of upcoming events, Karasin added.

Ukraine is holding presidential elections in March next year, and mounting tensions in the Kerch Strait would allow President Petro Poroshenko to cement power and win popular support. “Obviously, it is easier for Poroshenko to launch his campaign under the circumstances,” Karasin explained.

“Obviously, it is easier for Poroshenko to launch his campaign under these circumstances.”

The standoff took place as several of Ukraine’s vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports, from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the Kerch Strait, the only waterway that connects these two ports.

The maritime encounter also came ahead of the G20 summit in Argentina this week, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Later in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also called the incident “a clear provocation.” He maintained Ukraine had breached an array of key international treaties which “require all states to respect sovereignty of others.”

The standoff took place as several of Ukraine’s vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports, from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the Kerch Strait, the only waterway that connects these two ports.

According to technical rules, vessels passing through the narrow, complex Strait should contact Kerch port, report her route and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

Moscow denies that it received any warning, forcing the Russian military to use weapons to stop the vessels. The three Ukrainian ships were eventually seized and towed to Kerch port, according to the Russian Security Service (FSB).

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Russian Consulate territory ON FIRE as protesters pelt it with flares in Kharkov (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

RT.com26 Nov, 2018 11:58

Fire has broken out at the Russian consulate in the northeastern city of Kharkov as anti-Russia protesters threw flares and burned tires in front of the building.

Scores descended on the Russian diplomatic facility on Kharkov, Ukraine, on Monday, one day after a tense standoff between the two countries’ navy occurred in the Back Sea.

The rally heated up when some masked demonstrators lit flares and started hurling them at the Russian Consulate. One of the burning projectiles eventually landed behind the fence, and a fir tree outside the consulate building caught fire.

A woman was filmed taking the Russian national flag to a crowd of chanting men with flares to set it alight.

The attack on the Russian mission unfolded right in front of a police line. The officers could be seen standing still, failing to intervene as projectiles flew over their heads and hit the building.

The diplomatic facility in Kharkov was not the first to be targeted by protesters. On Sunday, the Russian Embassy in Kiev came under a similar attack with people hurling smoke grenades and burning tires. Another group of anti-Russia protesters, including right-wing activists, brought tires to the Russian Consulate in the western city of Lvov on Sunday night.

The rallies came shortly after Russian and Ukrainian vessels clashed in the Black Sea as the latter crossed into the Russian territorial waters without authorization.

The Ukrainian vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports, from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea, and needed to go through the only waterway that connects these waters, the Kerch Strait, located between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area. Moscow denies that it was given any warning.

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Last chance to stay in power? Ukrainian President Poroshenko signs decree on martial law.

RT.com26 Nov, 2018 12:58

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has imposed martial law after the country’s vessels faced off with Russian ships near Crimea. The measure could potentially allow him to call off scheduled elections and preserve power.

Martial law is scheduled to be in place from November 26 to January 26. It still requires final approval from Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. However, the Ukrainian General Staff was already tasked with beginning partial troop mobilization, according to media reports.

The Ukrainian army was put on full combat alert even before the martial law was declared.

The Rada is expected to vote on the motion later on Monday. However, Poroshenko revealed that he actually brought martial law into force ahead of its approval by parliament, starting from November 28. With that, the president also warned about a “serious threat” of a “ground invasion” of Ukraine, citing a “secret intelligence document.”

Invoking martial law is seen as a move which is beneficial for Poroshenko. The president’s rating is falling as he struggles to campaign for re-election in March.

However, the elections would be called off if martial law was still in place by that time, meaning that the president would keep his post despite unpopular economic measures and corruption scandals in his government.

The decree, which Poroshenko introduced in parliament, specifically states that the people’s right “to elect and be elected” might be suspended under martial law, effectively meaning that the government can call off any elections as long as the measure is in place.

Facing a public outcry over the possible fate of the upcoming elections, the president suggested that lawmakers approve martial law for 30 rather than 60 days, so as to avoid derailing the March vote. The elections will go ahead on schedule, he insisted.

The Ukrainian leadership apparently seeks to “score political points” ahead of the March 2019 presidential elections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the issue. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also described the decision to impose the martial law as “an electoral intrigue.”

The move comes on the back of a standoff between a group of Ukrainian Navy ships, which crossed into Russian territorial sea without authorization, and the Russian border guard vessels.

The Ukrainian ships were sailing between two of the country’s ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway connecting these ports is through the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia.

Although both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. Every ship passing through it should contact the Crimean sea port of Kerch, which controls traffic in the area.

While Kiev says that it notified the Russian side about its ships sailing through the area in advance, Moscow denies it received any warning. Moscow then accused Kiev of staging a planned provocation aimed at stirring up the conflict between the two neighbors and justifying the imposition of martial law.

Anti-Russian protesters have hurled flares, smoke grenades and burning tires at the Russian embassy in Kiev after the two countries’ vessels faced off near the Crimean peninsula.

Scuffles broke out between riot police and protesters as they gathered outside the Russian diplomatic mission in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. The building was soon covered in smoke as security forces tried to quell the crowd.

At one point, the angry crowd began chanting “Death to Russia!”

Videos circulating online captured a blazing car with diplomatic license plates parked not far from the Russian facility. The hood of the vehicle burned for some time in front of an apartment block before emergency services arrived.

Some protesters brought tires and set them ablaze near the building. People also left paper ships at the embassy fence in an apparent reference to the vessels’ face off near the Kerch Strait.

Another rally occurred near the Russian consulate in Lvov, western Ukraine. An angry crowd, including right-wing activists from the National Corps, descended on the building and burned tires during Sunday night into Monday morning. The participants said they were decrying what they called Russian “aggression” against the Ukrainian Navy.

Later on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed the rally in Kiev and accused police of failing to stop the “mayhem” in front of the Russian diplomatic facility, RIA Novosti reported.

“It’s radical nationalists and neo-Nazis who now call the tune in Ukraine, which has only been confirmed by yesterday’s disgusting action at the Russian Embassy in Kiev,” the top Russian diplomat said.

The Ukranian vessels were sailing between two Ukrainian ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway that connects these is the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area.

Moscow denies that it was given any warning, forcing the Russian military to use weapons to stop the vessels. The three Ukrainian ships were then seized and towed to the Kerch port, according to the Russian Security Service (FSB).

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. All traffic in the area is controlled by the Crimean sea port of Kerch, and every ship should contact the facility, report her route and destination, and receive permission to sail through the Strait.

As tensions escalated around the situation in the Kerch Strait, Russia called an emergency UN Security Council meeting, while Ukrainian President wants to declare martial law, pending approval by national parliament.

The German Foreign Minister has urged Russia and Ukraine to defuse tensions after their naval clash off the Crimean coast. Austria said that Kiev imposing martial law was a “worrying” step ahead of Ukraine’s presidential vote.

A brief but intense standoff between Ukrainian Navy ships and the Russian coast guard off the Crimean coast was an “alarming” event, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. He called upon both sides to de-escalate tensions, while also criticizing Moscow for what he called “a blockade of a passageway to the Azov Sea.”

Speaking in Madrid, Maas also said that Germany and France could play the role of “mediators” between Russia and Ukraine “in case of need.” Berlin and Paris are ready to jointly step in at a diplomatic level to prevent “this conflict from exacerbating any further,” he said.

Maas’ initial statement came hours before the Kerch port authorities said that merchant ships have been allowed to sail through the strait. Russia had suspended maritime traffic in the Kerch Strait following the incident on Sunday by sending a giant bulk freighter to block the only waterway connecting the Black and Azov Seas.

Germany’s neighbor, Austria, seemed particularly concerned about the incident. The country’s Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl promised that Vienna will do its utmost “to prevent further escalation.” She said Austria will also initiate discussions on the matter among fellow EU members.

Kneissl said in a later statement that Ukraine had “properly” notified Russia about the passage of its ships – a claim that Russian authorities deny – but then criticized the measures Kiev wants to take.

The martial law imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was a “worrying” step, Kneissl said. “Exactly in light of the upcoming [presidential] elections in Ukraine, nothing should be done to negatively impact a free and democratic process,” she argued.

While Berlin’s and Vienna’s reaction to the incident off the Crimean coast was quite reserved, some other European officials rushed to Ukraine’s defense while slamming Moscow for what they called an “aggression.” British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesperson has said she condemns Russia's "act of aggression" against Ukraine.

The UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also did not mince words as he said that London “utterly condemns Russia’s use of force” against the Ukrainian vessels while accusing Moscow of “contempt for the international norms.”

The European Council President Donald Tusk condemned what he called Russia’s “use of force in the Azov Sea.” He also called on Moscow to actually “refrain from further provocations,” even implying that it was Russia and not Ukraine that staged a provocation near the Kerch Strait.

Chinese diplomats have meanwhile urged parties not to ramp up tensions in the Black Sea, with its Foreign Ministry spokesman suggesting that both sides “reach consensus and tackle disagreements through dialogue and consultations.”

Moscow has earlier called the maritime clash a premeditated provocation aimed at winning sympathies in the West and helping President Petro Poroshenko to “score political points” ahead of the 2019 elections. It also said that Ukrainian vessels had violated rules of sailing through the Kerch Strait and endangered navigation.

Two Ukrainian fast-attack craft and a tugboat were sailing between the ports of Odessa in the Black Sea and Mariupol in the Azov Sea.

The only waterway that connects these is the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia, and Russian rules require all ships to receive permission to sail through the narrow, complex waterway.

Kiev says it notified Moscow in advance that its navy ships would be sailing through the area. Moscow denies that it was given warning.

Moscow has protested Kiev’s “planned” breach of Russian waters in the Kerch Strait and cautioned Ukraine’s foreign backers against blowing the incident out of proportion. Russia will “strongly” respond to similar “provocations.”

Three Ukrainian military boats on Sunday tried to pass through the Kerch Strait apparently without prior warning, but were ordered to stop by Russian border guards. A confrontation ensued, ending with the three ships being seized by the Russian side.

The actions of the Ukrainian Navy “violated the rules of passage through Russian territorial waters,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday, adding that Moscow has summoned an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the incident.

“Russia has repeatedly warned the Kiev regime and its Western supporters that fanning up the hysteria over the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait was dangerous. It’s obvious that there was a provocation, carefully planned in terms of location and form, which is aimed at flaring up yet another point of conflict in the region and creating a new pretext to impose more sanctions against Russia.”

Kiev has used the clash to justify declaring martial law – something Moscow says only benefits Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ahead of the March elections. Poroshenko has been struggling to campaign for re-election, with his popularity decimated by harsh economic problems and recent corruption scandals.

Moscow also said it’s outraged by vandalism attacks targeting Russian diplomatic missions in Ukraine following the Kerch standoff. Further incidents of a similar nature may have “serious consequences,” it said, pledging to “strongly counter” any attempt to violate Russian sovereignty.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has meanwhile described the actions of the Ukrainian Navy as “an invasion of Russian territorial waters.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the incident in which three Ukrainian vessels were impounded in Kerch by the FSB after they allegedly violated Russia’s Black Sea territorial waters as a “definite provocation” by Ukraine. He was speaking during a press conference in Moscow on Sunday.

“Key provisions of international law were violated, not only of maritime law, but also general international law, including the UN Charter, including the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international legal instruments, which repeatedly require all governments to respect the sovereignty of another government,” he said.

The violation “happened in a dangerous fashion, manoeuvring in a narrow strait, of course, could create a threat and risks to the normal movement of vessels in this area,” Lavrov added.

The Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is set to discuss the introduction of martial law after the incident.

“And with the declaration of martial law, these nationalist radicals will generally feel that their hands are untied. So we strongly urge Kiev’s Western sponsors to calm down those who are now trying to earn political points for military hysteria in connection with the upcoming elections and other events in Ukraine,” the minister said.

Talking about protests outside the Russian embassy in Kiev, the Lavrov said “the radical nationalists and neo-Nazis are having field day in Ukraine, which was demonstrated by the shameful protest outside the Russian embassy in Kiev where they hurled smoke grenades. The police did not do nothing, but did not exactly try hard to stop this mayhem.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko demanded the immediate release of the Ukrainian servicemen who were detained on Sunday by Russian security forces, after their vessels breached Russia's territorial waters.

"We demand their immediate return to the Ukrainian side along with the vessels, and an immediate de-escalation of the situation in the Sea of Azov as a first step," said the Ukrainian president in Kiev on Monday.

Russian's Federal Security Service (FSB) impounded the Ukrainian vessels and initiated a criminal case against their crew for their "illegal" trespass of the Russian state border, according to a statement.

The FSB said weapons were used to induce the Ukrainian vessels to stop, after they had performed "dangerous maneuvers." Three Ukrainian military personnel were injured as a result and received medical attention.

According to Ukrainian authorities, their vessels had a right to pass freely through the Kerch Strait, based on international law. Moscow says it was not given advanced warning.

On Sunday, Poroshenko chaired an emergency meeting with ministers and military officials in Kiev, where he proposed the introduction of martial law in response to the incident.

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Ukraine: Lawmakers approve Poroshenko's martial law for 30 days.

RuptlyNov 26, 2018

The Ukrainian parliament approved President Petro Poroshenko's request to introduce martial law in the border regions of the country for 30 days, starting from 28 November, after holding intense debates in Kiev on Monday.

SOT, Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian President (Ukrainian): "These are the regions of Vinnytsia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kherson as well as the inland waters in the water area of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. I emphasise that the state of emergency will be introduced only in the case of a ground operation by the armed forces of the Russian Federation beyond the Joint Forces Operation and beyond the illegally-annexed Crimea."

Vasily Gritsak, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), confirmed that counterintelligence officers were on the ships which entered Russian waters in the Kerch Strait on Sunday.

The agents were routinely providing “counterintelligence support to the Ukrainian Navy unit,” an SBU statement reads.

Counterintelligence officers are usually embedded with the military and deployed to the frontline, the agency said, adding, “it will always remain so.”

Gritsak accused Russia of using excessive force against Ukrainian vessels. Citing some “confirmed intelligence,” the statement alleged that a Russian aircraft had fired two missiles at the Ukrainian vessels during the standoff, leaving one SBU officer “seriously wounded.”

It comes after the FSB said there were two Ukrainian operatives on board who coordinated the “provocation” in the Kerch Strait. Russia’s security agency also filmed three men, identified as an SBU counterintelligence agent, a Navy officer and a sailor.

Speaking on camera, they said the crews deliberately ignored orders to stop after the ships entered Russia’s territorial waters. There were small arms on board the ships as well as machine guns with ammunition, according to service members.

The FSB has also asserted that the provocative mid-sea encounter was in fact ordered by the Ukrainian government. Top Russian officials had previously voiced similar statements, accusing Kiev of trying to win sympathies in the West, put pressure on Russia and help President Petro Poroshenko cement power.

Kiev responded conspicuously fast to the Kerch Strait incident, with Poroshenko announcing that a period of martial law would be imposed. The Ukrainian military was also put on combat alert following the naval standoff.

Some observers, however, noted the timing of the event as it came ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting at the G20 summit and the start of presidential campaign in Ukraine.

Post by TsarSamuil on Nov 29, 2018 14:36:39 GMT -5

CrossTalk on Ukraine vs. Russia: Dire Straits.

RTNov 28, 2018

It’s Ukraine vs Russia again. A minor maritime incident on the Kerch Strait is said to be anything between a major international crisis to a cheap campaign trick as Ukraine enters an election cycle. Take your pick. But one thing is for sure: Russia is deemed aggressive by the west when defending its sovereignty. CrossTalking with Mary Dejevsky, Adriel Kasonta, and Michael Maloof.

A celebrated Stanford scholar and ex-envoy to Russia is having trouble finding evidence that the Ukrainian government "sympathizes" with paramilitary groups that espouse neo-Nazi ideologies.

Michael McFaul expressed his doubts about Kiev's support for ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine. He was responding to journalist Glenn Greenwald's assertion that the Ukrainian government "has clear, systemic & deeply ominous ties to actual Nazi groups & neo-Nazi factions."

Most countries have "Nazi sympathizers," McFaul artfully retorted. "But the Ukrainian government? Really? Any evidence to support that hypothesis? The Prime Minister is Jewish."

Greenwald promptly furnished two pieces of corroborating evidence, which can hardly be dismissed as "Russian propaganda" – the usual tactics for the willingly-blind about Ukraine's right-wing extremism problem.

The first, dating from March 2014, is a Washington Post op-ed penned by Eugene Robinson, which decries how several top ministries and government posts were being headed by individuals with ties to far-right and neo-Nazi groups.

One notable example cited in the WaPo piece: Andriy Parubiy, the founder of the creatively-named and not-Nazi-sounding-at-all Social-National Party of Ukraine. The organization was an "openly neo-fascist precursor" to Svoboda, a current ultra-nationalist political party in Ukraine.

In 2014 Parubiy was head of the national security council and is currently speaker of the parliament – i.e., a leading figure in Ukraine's government. Is McFaul suggesting that Parubiy, whose "openly neo-fascist" organization once warned that "we are the last hope of the white race," is not sympathetic to Nazis anymore?

Greenwald also cited a recent report by the Associated Press, which notes that the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sports has spent about $150,000 on youth camps run by ultra-nationalists teaching kids how "separatists" are not human and thus are ok to shoot at.

And this example is hardly isolated. Ukrainian budget money routinely goes to "patriotic projects" of group like C14, or "Sich". They are a notorious ultranationalist organization "whose members have openly expressed neo-Nazi views," according to RFE/RL.

And they act on their convictions with impunity. C14 openly claimed credit for a series of attacks on Roma people in Ukraine, framing it as "cleaning". The sometimes violent crackdowns faced no opposition from the police and courts don't seem too eager to have the individuals organizing those pogroms prosecuted.

If a State Department-funded news outlet can come to the conclusion that C14 has government's backing, surely its former employee could too. At least the NATO-funded Atlantic Council think tank connected the dots in June, hilariously starting its piece by giving RT credit for spending years reporting on Ukraine's growing neo-Nazi problem.

And this problem is not limited to Ukraine. The right-wing extremists there eagerly share their experience with foreign sympathizers, from Europe and from the US too. The FBI accused Ukraine's Azov Battalion of radicalizing and training US-based white supremacy groups.

In court filings, the FBI said that "Azov Battalion is a paramilitary unit of the Ukrainian National Guard which is known for its association with neo-Nazi ideology and use of Nazi symbolism, and which is believed to have participated in training and radicalizing United States-based white supremacy organizations."

If a group is part of the regular law enforcement force and a top official praises its members as national heroes, it seems like convincing evidence of government support.

In 2014, President Petro Poroshenko even presented Azov's leader, Andriy Biletsky, with the Order For Courage. At the time, Biletsky was also the head of the Social National Assembly, an organization committed to "punishing severely sexual perversions and any interracial contacts that lead to the extinction of the white man." The BBC called the notion "a typical neo-Nazi narrative," in a July report.

And the list goes on and on.

McFaul's argument that a government headed by a Jewish person cannot possibly support neo-Nazis doesn't seem to hold water. In May 2017, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymir Groysman personally travelled to Israel to secure the purchase of weapons for Azov Battalion, which has since published videos of its members training with Israeli assault rifles.

As Haaretz reported at the time: "Israel is exporting weapons to Ukraine, knowing that they reach right-wing militias, some members of which are avowed neo-Nazis who enjoy the support of the authorities."

It seems like somebody is living in denial.

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‘Kiev would get away even with eating babies’: Putin says Kerch Strait standoff is a provocation.

RT.com28 Nov, 2018 12:00

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said the clash between Russian and Ukrainian military ships was a result of foreign nation’s failing to hold Kiev accountable for bad behavior as long as it remains confrontational towards Russia.

The remarks were the first made by the Russian leader since the confrontation in the Kerch Strait, a narrow passageway between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, where a strategic bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia is located.

“The authorities in Kiev are selling anti-Russian sentiment with quite a success today. They have nothing else to do,” Putin said during a business forum in Moscow.

The Russian president said it seemed like Kiev could get away with anything as far as foreign nations supporting Ukraine’s anti-Russian stance were concerned.

“If they demand babies for breakfast, they would probably be served babies. They’d say: ‘Why not, they are hungry, what is to be done about it?’ This is such a shortsighted policy and it cannot have a good outcome. It makes the Ukrainian leadership complacent, gives them no incentive to do normal political work in their country or pursue a normal economic policy.”

Putin said the incident, which ended in Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian ships and Kiev imposing a partial martial law in the country, was a “dirty game” by Poroshenko, who needs to suppress his political opponents ahead of the March presidential election. He assured that the Ukrainian side was responsible for the escalation of tensions, since the incident was a deliberate and planned provocation by the Ukrainian Navy.

The Russian leader also defended the border guards, who stopped the Ukrainian ships from passing through the Kerch Strait, saying it was their duty as sworn service members to do so and that if they failed they could face a tribunal for defying an order.

200 nationalist militants take over shopping mall in central Kiev – and cops make ONE arrest (VIDEO)

RT.com28 Nov, 2018 20:13

MIlitant protesters linked to Ukraine’s ultranationalist Svoboda party have taken over a shopping center in Kiev, vandalizing the mall and demanding Russian businesses leave the country, while the police stood by and watched.

The mall takeover came two days after the protesters reportedly chucked smoke grenades and flares into the building, triggering the fire alarm and prompting an evacuation, as Hromadske radio reported. The masked group then barricaded the building’s entrance with tires, and vandalized its windows with spray paint on Tuesday.

After two days of vandalism and provocation, around 200 of the group stormed the mall, demanding stores close down and blocking shoppers from making purchases. Around 30 riot police were on site, but seemed content to let the mob have the run of the mall.

The occupiers wore black masks and carried the flag of militant youth organization ‘Sokil’ (Falcon), an offshoot of the far-right ‘Svoboda’ (Freedom) party. Svoboda virulently opposes Russian influence and the “decadence” of the liberal West, and is linked to neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine. Initially known as the National-Social party of Ukraine, Svoboda’s politicians have described the party as “the last hope of the white race,” approvingly quoted from ‘Mein Kampf’ in council meetings, and organized militant summer camps for children, training the young ones to play games, climb mountains, and shoot at Russians.

In the mall, police were successful in escorting a number of the ultranationalists out of the building, but many remained inside, Korrespondent.net reported. There, they blamed Russian business owners for their country’s spat with Russia.

“We demand to end the funding of terrorism and the killing of Ukrainian soldiers by money that's being pulled out of Ukraine through this shopping center,” they chanted. “Out with the Russian business in Ukraine!”

Police did arrest one protester, who they say was resisting their commands. As of Wednesday afternoon, nobody else was detained.

The mall occupation is just one of several anti-Russian protests organized by Ukrainian neo-Nazis in recent days. Crowds – some of them belonging to the neo-Nazi ‘National Corps’ – surrounded the Russian consulate in Kharkov on Monday. The protesters chanted “Death to Russia” as they pelted the building with eggs and burned Russian flags in the street outside.

The rise in anti-Russian sentiment came after a clash between Ukrainian and Russian military ships in the Kerch Strait, near Crimea, on Sunday. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko imposed partial martial law in Ukraine after the incident, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called a provocation and a “dirty game” by Poroshenko to crack down on political opponents ahead of a presidential election in March.

About one hour ago, the FSB made public the documents that they found among the crews of the Ukrainian ships that were trying to break through the Russian state border. They prove that the provocation in the Kerch Strait was planned.

Post by TsarSamuil on Nov 29, 2018 14:40:36 GMT -5

‘F*** off home!’ Masked men pelt Ukrainian presidential candidate with eggs, pummel his team (VIDEO)

RT.com29 Nov, 2018 16:07

Anatoliy Grytsenko, who is in the race to become Ukraine’s president in next year’s election, has accused current head of state Petro Poroshenko of organizing an attack during a campaign visit to the Black Sea port of Odessa.

The former defense minister was due to make a local radio appearance on Wednesday night, but when he arrived at the station, the entrance was blocked by a group of masked men “of athletic build,” according to a statement from his press secretary, published by Interfax-Ukraine.

They handed Grytsenko a carved pumpkin with a dildo stuck in its “mouth”, and the words “F*** off home” written on the side, and attempted to pelt him with eggs.

Fearing a confrontation, the candidate decided to withdraw, but the gang, who did not identify themselves, instead confronted members of his team. CCTV footage leaked to social media shows a genuinely violent scuffle, featuring roundhouse kicks, mace being sprayed, and the aforementioned pumpkin broken over someone’s head.

A criminal investigation over charges of hooliganism has been opened following the incident.

In a Facebook post, Grytsenko said that three of his team were injured in the fight, with one suffering a concussion and cuts to his face. He added that the identity of the ringleader was widely known, and that the assailants had been acting on behalf of Poroshenko, who faces an uphill task to defeat his rivals at the ballot box.

“Why do you keep using someone else’s scythe to cut down your nettles?” wrote Grytsenko, in reference to previous violence committed by shadowy paramilitary groups in the supposed interests of political candidates.

Ukraine faces an election in March next year that is currently impossible to call. The top five candidates, including the center-right Grytsenko, Poroshenko, and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko are all polling at under 20 percent of the votes, and are each within statistical error of the next-ranked candidate.

Observers fear an uptick in the unpunished street violence, which has plagued the country since the breakup of the Soviet Union. It escalated significantly following the Maidan protests in late 2013 that catapulted former industrial tycoon Poroshenko to power.

In an incident on Tuesday, 200 uniformed nationalist paramilitaries occupied a shopping center in central Kiev, demanding that Russian companies be forced out following the Kerch Strait incident at the weekend. Outnumbered, police could do nothing but stand and watch the politically-motivated vandalism.

Sweeping searches on the roads in Mariupol, Russian heavy trucks captured in Odessa region, an attack on a shopping mall in downtown Kiev. That's how Ukraine is getting used to living with martial law. Today, Poroshenko visited Chernigov: the first of the 10 regions to introduce martial law. And the reason for the introduction became clear at once: the president, who wants to be reelected, basically made an election tour out of this trip. Those who are too young to vote were sent to dig trenches at this moment.

Slovakia is going to send 1,000 servicemen to the border, as announced by Peter Gajdoš, Slovakia's minister of defense.

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From tourists to journalists: Kiev bans foreigners from entering Crimea via land border with Ukraine.

RT.com29 Nov, 2018 19:06

Ukraine remains under martial law following the clash between Ukrainian navy ships and Russian coast guard vessels in the Kerch Strait. Kiev has now banned foreigners from entering Crimea through its border with Ukraine.

All non-Ukrainians will be barred from entering Crimea from the Ukrainian land border, according to border guards cited by AP. It is still possible to fly into Crimea from Russia or to enter via the bridge from Russia's south, though Ukraine claims that is a violation of its borders.

The move is one of several restrictions that have come into effect after President Petro Poroshenko introduced a one-month period of martial law earlier this week. On Wednesday, he assured his own citizens that they wouldn't face restrictions on travel or cash withdrawals, but said Russians would be subject to constraints.

"There will be restrictions regarding Russian citizens, which I believe are quite justified," he tweeted, while declining to elaborate. Ukrainian authorities have already denied entry to Russians following the weekend clash in the Kerch Strait.

The Kerch Strait standoff began when Ukrainian navy vessels attempted to sail between two Ukrainian ports via the waterway, which runs between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev claims it notified Russia in advance that its ships would be passing through the area, but Moscow denies being given a warning.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has noted that the waters entered by the Ukrainian ships had belonged to Russia even before 2014, when Crimean citizens voted in a referendum to reunify with Russia. It also said that two officers from the Ukrainian security service (SBU) were embedded within the ships to coordinate the incursion. Russia opened fire on the vessels and detained the ships and those on board.

In a statement, the FSB called the incident a “provocative act of the Ukrainian Navy, executed on direct orders by the government in Kiev."

The FSB has also released footage of three men identified as Ukrainian service members who had been on the ships. In the video, the men are speaking on camera in detention. They said their crews intentionally violated Russia's maritime borders and ignored orders to stop.

The incident occurred about two months after two Ukrainian naval ships passed through the Kerch Strait legally and without incident, passing under the arch of the Crimea bridge after giving notice that they would be doing so. They were accompanied by Russian warships without any problems, according to Moscow.

While both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow waterway.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 2, 2018 3:20:58 GMT -5

Kiev authorities have decided to turn away all Russian men aged 16 to 60. It’s apparently designed to prevent Moscow from forming “private armies” on Ukrainian soil.

The move was announced by the counrty’s president Petro Poroshenko in a tweet on Friday. Kiev has imposed a blanket ban on all the Russian males aged between 16 and 60, effectively allowing only women and children to visit the country. Some men might be eligible for an exception over some sort of “humanitarian” reasons.

The scale of the ban might be even larger, as some media outlets reported that the Ukrainian border guards are also denying entry to Russian women.

“The border guards are demanding women produce a bank statement to prove they have enough funds for their visit and generally deny entry if they lack such a document,” Interfax has been told in regards to the situation unfolding at Kiev’s Borispol International Airport.

Another woman told Meduza that she’d been sitting in the airport for hours and she hadn’t seen anyone with a Russian passport admitted.

“There are many women here, some of them with children,” she added.

The ban is supposed to prevent Russia from “forming ‘private’ armies, which are in fact representatives of the Russian armed force,” as well as “to prevent Russians from carrying out those operations in Ukraine which they’ve planned back in 2014.” The president did not elaborate what exactly Moscow had allegedly planned and why it had not managed to carry it out over the past four years.

Moscow condemned the new hostile move by the Kiev authorities, yet already ruled out a mirror response to the measure.

“Regarding Ukraine, not the state itself, but the regime which currently runs the country, it’s quite terrifying to talk about a mirror response. Because an attempt to mirror what is happening in Kiev could lead to insanity, and on a state level – simply to a collapse,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

The new restrictions come as a part of the so-called “partial” martial law, which the Ukrainian authorities imposed earlier this week for a one month period. On Thursday Kiev barred all foreigners from entering Russia’s region of Crimea through the land border with Ukraine.

The martial law was imposed following the weekend incident in the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia. Three Ukrainian military vessels – two gunboats and a tug – tried to sail through the strait without getting proper permission from Moscow. The rogue vessels were blocked by Russian border guard ships, rammed, shot at and eventually seized. Their crews – sailors and operatives of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) – have been arrested by Russian authorities and stand accused of illegally crossing the state border.

While Ukraine accused Moscow of “aggression,” urging western countries to take action, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin dubbed the whole affair a deliberate “provocation” orchestrated by Kiev before the upcoming presidential election.

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Hysteria, Fear and Disbelief! Ukrainians Are Blown Away by How Badly Things Have Escalated.

Vesti NewsNov 30, 2018

In Istanbul, they're waiting for the decision of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Today, it was to agree on the final wording of the tomos to provide Ukraine with autocephaly. But judging by the fact that the meeting ended a few hours ago and the final statement was still not made, Constantinople is in a quandary.

We understand that if there's a provocation, and it should take place within the next 30 days, because without it, Poroshenko will have to end martial law. Donbass will be the main target. Eduard Basurin is on the air with us.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 2, 2018 3:54:09 GMT -5

Trump and I have different positions on Kerch Strait incident – Putin.

RT.com1 Dec, 2018 19:53

Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to his US counterpart about the incident in the Kerch Strait, but noted that Donald Trump had his own view of what happened. The two issues dominated as he talked to media after G20 summit.

The content of Putin's meeting with Trump was the first question asked by journalists. The Russian President said that he briefly answered Trump's questions about the standoff between Russian authorities and Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait. "He has his position on this issue, and I have mine," Putin told journalists, expressing regrets he and Trump hadn't had a proper meeting.

“Earlier, we talked about the need to restore our legal and economic cooperation, our cooperation in some hot-spots like Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea, this is also a big problem for everybody. On all these matters we need a dialogue,” Putin said, expressing hopes that such a “meeting will happen sooner or later, it will happen when the United States will be ready for that.”

The Russian President doesn’t have any preconditions in mind and is ready to meet when Trump is ready, since the matters US and Russia have to discuss are “way too important, both to our countries and to the whole world.”

Strategic stability is a number one priority because it's directly related to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Russia’s president also discussed the Kerch Strait incident with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We presented step-by-step how the events unfolded,” Putin said, adding that facts indicate it was a deliberate “provocation.” Putin’s various counterparts reacted “calmly” to what he told them, he added.

“How can you object to that if the log of the ship says clearly that these vessels were to penetrate our territorial waters in a secret way?”

Russia’s president was also asked about the fate of the Ukrainian sailors, arrested following the incident, and of the three ships seized by Russia’s Border guard. Putin did not rule out any options, yet he noted that the Ukrainians are the subject of a criminal investigation and the whole process should go according to the law.

“We’re not considering a swap at his point and Ukraine did not raise this issue and it’s too early to talk about that. They’re still being investigated, we need to establish the fact that this was a provocation by the Ukrainian government and we need to put everything on paper, this needs to be legal,” Putin said.

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Ukrainian leadership is a party of war, and it will continue as long as they're in power – Putin.

RT.com1 Dec, 2018 20:57

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has branded the Ukrainian leadership a “party of war” which would continue fueling conflicts while they stay in power, giving the recent Kerch Strait incident as an example.

“When I look at this latest incident in the Black Sea, all what’s happening in Donbass – everything indicates that the current Ukrainian leadership is not interested in resolving this situation at all, especially in a peaceful way,” Putin told reporters during a media conference in the aftermath of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“This is a party of war and as long as they stay in power, all such tragedies, all this war will go on.”

The Kiev authorities are craving war primarily for two reasons – to rip profits from it, and to blame all their own domestic failures on it and actions of some sort of “aggressors.”

“As they say, for one it’s war, for other – it’s mother. That’s reason number one why the Ukrainian government is not interested in a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Putin stated.

“Second, you can always use war to justify your failures in economy, social policy. You can always blame things on an aggressor.”

This approach to statecraft by the Ukrainian authorities deeply concerns Russia’s President. “We care about Ukraine because Ukraine is our neighbor,” Putin said.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been soaring after the incident in the Kerch Strait. Last weekend three Ukrainian Navy ships tried to break through the strait without seeking the proper permission from Russia. Following a tense stand-off and altercation with Russia’s border guard, the vessels were seized and their crews detained over their violation of the country’s border.

While Kiev branded the incident an act of “aggression” on Moscow’s part, Russia believes the whole Kerch affair to be a deliberate “provocation” which allowed Kiev to declare a so-called “partial” martial law ahead of Ukraine's presidential election.

The Russian president drew a diagram of the border violation committed by Ukrainian ships off the coast of Crimea last week for the benefit of the German chancellor, as he hosted a lavish working breakfast at the G20 in Argentina.

Vladimir Putin invited Angela Merkel to a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in Buenos Aires on Saturday morning, though it may have felt more like afternoon for both of the leaders, who had flown in from Europe the day before.

While the media was ushered out after the first few seconds, footage shows the Russian president pointing the German chancellor to her seat on the opposite side of a table laden with delicacies. In the moments they were allowed to observe, the press spotted serving dishes of black caviar and red salmon roe, brought over especially from Russia for the occasion. There were also succulent pieces of fish served in dishes adorned with Russia’s heraldic double-headed eagles.

According to Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, despite all the grand trappings the breakfast was all-business between the two long-serving politicians, who are both fluent in each other’s languages.

He said Putin wanted to give a “vivid” illustration of the incident, in which three Ukrainian navy vessels crossed into Russian territorial waters, before being detained – hence the diagram – accompanied by an “exhaustive explanation.”

In turn, Merkel reportedly wondered if she could offer diplomatic assistance in resolving the most severe crisis between Moscow and Kiev for several years.

While Putin was communicative on Russian reasoning – he similarly explained the incident to Emmanuel Macron the day before – he could not promise an imminent release of the 24 crew members of the Ukrainian vessels.

“Putin explained that this was a matter for investigators and the courts, so any decision is likely to take some time,” said Peskov, adding that within the context of the legal process an idea of diplomatic mediation from foreign officials was inapplicable.

Peskov also emphasized that the detainees were not “prisoners of war” as there is “no war between Russia and Ukraine” but “provocateurs,” who “trespassed into Russia and committed acts of hooliganism.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned that Russia is building up its military presence along the border with Ukraine, while speaking at a military event celebrating the transfer of new hardware to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Vasylkiv on Saturday.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 6, 2018 21:06:31 GMT -5

According to RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, the French authorities came down hard on protesters, but the international media don't seem to have a problem with it. Washington hasn't expressed any concern either.

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE ?Wagram Avenue the crs send tear gas and load. The yellow vests want to take refuge in the fast-food restaurant, but it's closed. Under the pressure of the demonstrators, the glass door gave way and they rushed into the area. The crs follow them.

Today, President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed to the Verkhovna Rada that they terminate the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership with Russia. In the meantime, the Security Service of Ukraine has begun interrogating priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. They seek to create a new religious structure wholly subordinate to the Maidan authorities. Kiev is now openly terrorizing the canonical church in order to force it to unite with the schismatics.

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Mass Exodus: Thousands of Ukrainians Flee Military Call Up; Preparing Run for Russia.

Vesti NewsDec 4, 2018

Large-scale reservist training has begun in Ukraine. It's connected with martial law being introduced in 10 Oblasts one week ago. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense says that the training is being conducted, I quote, to prepare human resources so that they can repel armed aggression. What war are the Kiev authorities preparing their people for?

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Spook Infestation: British MI6 Agents Allowed to Run Amok in Ukraine by Traitor Government in Kiev.

Vesti NewsDec 4, 2018

Against this backdrop, it's no surprise that several British special ops groups from the secret 77th Brigade are openly operating in Ukraine. According to the British media, their objectives are indoctrination on the internet and information operations. What it means becomes clear if we recall how openly London supported Kiev after the coup. Britain has joined the game again.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 6, 2018 21:34:55 GMT -5

Kiev’s martial law is cover for offensive action against rebels – Moscow.

RT.com5 Dec, 2018 10:05

Moscow believes the Ukrainian government is set for a flare-up of hostilities against rebels in the east, using the newly-imposed martial law to cover up its preparations.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called on international observers, monitoring the situation in Ukraine, to step up their efforts to prevent possible provocations.

Last week, Kiev imposed martial law in the eastern and southern parts of the country, after Russia blocked its ships which had entered the Kerch Strait, between Crimea and mainland Russia, without authorization.

The move to subsequently enforce martial law “aims to camouflage a new provocation in Donbass”, which Ukraine would frame as evidence of Russian aggression, according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“Assault and mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army are being relocated to the conflict zone after completing intensive training courses with support from US, Canadian and British instructors,” she warned, while the troops are being spread along the disengagement line in an apparent preparation for an offensive operation.

Zakharova said a staged chemical weapons attack may be used as a pretext for intensifying the hostilities, citing reports from the rebel side claiming one was being prepared. “We are calling on the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] monitoring mission to intensify their activities in Donbas. What is needed is a comprehensive picture on the military preparations by Ukraine, not some fragmented pieces of information,” she said.

Parts of eastern Ukraine defied the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, which placed an anti-Russian government in power. The new authorities tried to rein in the uprising through military force, but failed to defeat the rebels. Kiev insists that it is evidence of Russian involvement in the conflict, an accusation which Russia denies.

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‘Pandering to Kiev will lead to more dangerous provocations,’ Russia warns foreign parliaments.

RT.com5 Dec, 2018 15:30

Backing Ukraine in the Kerch Strait crisis will fuel the adventurism of the Kiev authorities and lead to more provocations, endangering security in the region, Russia’s Federal Council said in an address to foreign parliaments.

The violation of Russia’s maritime border in the Kerch Strait, between Crimea and mainland Russia, by three Ukrainian vessels last week “was a deliberate act, planned by the Ukrainian authorities,” the Senators wrote in their address. The “provocation” by Kiev was specifcally timed to coincide with the G20 summit and the start of the presidential campaign in Ukraine, they added.

The Kerch Straight incident was among the excuses used by US President Donald Trump to cancel the much anticipated meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20 gathering in Argentina on weekend.

The real reason why Ukraine sent its ships to Russian territorial waters was to invoke martial law in eastern and southern parts of the country, which was swiftly announced by President Petro Poroshenko.

“The martial law in a country, which wages war against nobody but its own citizens, isn’t just a propagandist farce, aimed at increasing the degree of Russophobia in the Ukrainian society, but a direct infringement of the people’s rights in areas predominantly populated by Russian-speakers,” the address read.

“Kiev’s actions endanger peace and security in the region and hamper the free communication between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.”

The Federal Council has called upon the parliaments of all foreign countries as well as international organizations, including the UN and the OSCE, to “resolutely condemn” the provocative actions by Kiev and the introduction of martial law in parts of the country.

The Senators regretted that some governments, including those in the UK, France, Poland, and other countries, rushed to support Kiev in the crisis. “In this situation, it’s equally unacceptable to pander to Kiev or remain silent as both will push Kiev into further adventurism,” they said.

President Putin also spoke about Ukraine on Tuesday as the Russian leader explained why he chooses not to answer to phone calls from Poroshenko.

“It’s not that I’m avoiding him (Poroshenko) and don’t want to talk… The thing is I just don’t what to take part in his election campaign.”

Poroshenko, who creates crisis situations himself and then puts the blame on Russia, simply “wants to demonstrate that he can successfully solve the emerging problems,” Putin said, adding that he won’t be involved with the Ukrainian leader’s “guileless schemes.”

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Ukrainian MPs want to make Nazi collaborator Bandera a national hero again.

RT.com6 Dec, 2018 04:18

Lawmakers from Ukraine's two biggest parties have filed a motion asking the Ukrainian president to posthumously bestow the ‘Hero of Ukraine’ award upon nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, a known Nazi collaborator.

MPs from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's "Solidarity" block together with the right-wing People's Front party have backed a draft resolution asking him to award Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the country's highest state award.

Bandera is a deeply divisive figure in the Ukrainian history but is considered by many to be a hero, despite his violent methods and accusations of condoning an ethnic cleansing of thousands of Poles in what is now western Ukraine.

Before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Bandera's OUN collaborated with the Nazis, declaring an independent nation shortly after enemy troops arrived, on June 30, 1941. The founding document known as "the act of restoration of Ukrainian state" includes explicit pledges to Nazi Germany.

The collaboration between the Nazi occupational regime and Bandera's Ukraine did not last long, and the nationalist leader was soon arrested and imprisoned by the Germans.

The authorities in Kiev, however, prefer to turn a blind eye on the ugly episodes in Bandera's biography, focusing entirely on his glorification.

In the explanatory note to the resolution, the lawmakers noted that Bandera "fought for Ukrainian statehood against the Soviet and German occupation regimes," became an "embodiment and symbol" of the struggle for Ukrainian independence, turning into "one of the main enemies" of both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The selective historical memory of the Ukrainian authorities has soured relations between Kiev and Warsaw. Polish President Andrzej Duda estimated that the OUN's militant wing, the UPA, carried out a massacre of some 100,000 Poles in 1942-1944, demanding that Ukraine admits it was an ethnic cleansing. Ukraine, however, insists it was a tragic but justified response to the killing of some 5,000 Ukrainians by Polish militias.

This is the second attempt by Kiev to officially make Bandera a national hero. In January 2010, then-President Viktor Yushchenko awarded Bandera with the title, but four months later, the accolade was withdrawn after a court ruling that Yushchenko had violated state law since Bandera was not a citizen of Ukraine.

The lawmakers now argue that the pretext to rescind the order was far-fetched, stressing that modern Ukraine should be regarded as a successor of all the Ukrainian Republics that ever existed.

Nationalist sentiment has been on the rise in Kiev since the 2014 coup that propelled the current government to power. Some 6,500 people across Ukraine marched to commemorate Bandera's birthday on January 1 this year. Dozens of events honoring the Ukrainian nationalist leader were held.

In July, Zhytomyr, a city in northern Ukraine, declared 2019 the year of Stepan Bandera. The controversial character has been made an honorary citizen of dozens of cities in western Ukraine.

In 2015, Poroshenko signed a law honoring the memory of various rebel and guerrilla groups fighting for the Ukrainian independence, including the OUN.

For all Kiev's hopes of a "fully independent" Orthodox church in Ukraine, it turns out that Constantinople has its own plans. A statute shows the new church to be in a subordinate position and not led by a patriarch.

In recent months, the Kiev government and Ukraine's priests seeking to have an internationally accepted Orthodox church not answering to Moscow, have gained the backing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It challenged the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukrainian territory by revoking its 17th century concession to the Moscow-based Patriarchy, which acknowledged its right to appoint the most senior Orthodox cleric in Kiev.

At the moment there are three major organizations in Ukraine calling themselves Orthodox Churches. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous branch of the Russian Orthodox Church and is recognized by other Orthodox churches of the world. Two others are not, and its leaders were until recently universally recognized as schismatic. Kiev's current plan is to have priests from all three churches and have them vote for the creation of a new "truly Ukrainian" church, with Constantinople recognizing it as such.

A new Constantinople-drafted statute for the future organization might in fact kill all Kiev's dreams about an independent church altogether. A part of the document adopted by the Constantinople Patriarchate's governing body, the Holy Synod, provides an insight into what the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew actually has in store for Ukraine.

So what exactly would the status of Ukraine's Orthodox Church entail in Constantinople's view?

1. No more patriarch in Kiev

One would expect that an independent church is supposed to be led by a patriarch – the highest-ranking bishop in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Instead, the leader of the new church would still have a status of a metropolitan – just as the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The absence of a patriarch in the church hierarchy does not technically raise an obstacle to its independence but it is still unlikely to sit well with the Ukrainian leadership.

2. No decisions without Constantinople's approval

The new statute openly states that the new Ukrainian Orthodox church would be "inextricably connected" to Constantinople, which basically means that it will find itself in a pretty much subordinate position with little prospect of ever gaining full independence.

If that was not already clear enough, the statute further elaborates that pretty much every decision the Ukrainian clerics would ever take should be coordinated with Constantinople. Otherwise, the Ukrainian hierarchs might find some of their decisions simply overturned. The document also quite explicitly says that Constantinople would only tell Ukraine's clergy what it sees fit and will not be obliged to explain any of these decisions.

3. No final say for Kiev on monasteries & saints

Some important aspects of the religious life in Ukraine will be left under the direct control of Constantinople. The new clerical structure will particularly be unable to set the status of its own monasteries or canonize anyone as a saint.

The Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople can also freely intervene into the elections of the Ukrainian metropolitan, should any "problems" arise, the document says. Any hierarch stripped of its clerical status in Ukraine would also be able to appeal this decision in Constantinople.

4. What can be granted can also be recalled

The statute stressed that it is Constantinople that grants the Ukrainian Church its new status. That technically means that the Ecumenical Patriarchate also reserves the right to reverse any of its decisions and deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of some or all of the previously granted rights, experts and clerics in Moscow point out.

"Judging by what Constantinople in fact offers, [one can say] that it can also recall [any of its decisions] at any moment," Professor of Church History at St. Tikhon's Orthodox University Alexander Dvorkin told RT.

"Constantinople fiddles with its own decisions," Aleksandr Volkov, the deputy head of the Moscow Patriarch Kirill's press service said, adding that "it is difficult to build stable church life on such basis."

'Church serfdom, not even autonomy'

The status of the proposed church de facto is "at odds with everything" the government in Kiev and its schismatic allies wanted, Dvorkin said. "They got neither independence nor even autonomy. The [statute] provisions show that the structure Constantinople seeks to create is an absolutely dependent one."

The fact that Constantinople seeks to make Ukrainian hierarchs consult with it on almost all canonical and administrative issues shows that it does not even try to hide its goal of making the Ukrainian Orthodox Church its subordinate, the professor added.

"This would be a church serfdom," Volkov said, adding that Constantinople in fact only secures its own interests in expanding its influence and creating puppet structures.

The "unification council," a gathering of priests meant to create the new Kiev-supported church, is to be held later in December. But the event is at risk of becoming a "division council," since the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has firmly refused to take part in it. But the two schismatic organizations might now also become reluctant to take part in it. They actually possess greater freedom now, when their lack of recognition is compensated by having self-rule, than they would get under Constantinople.

Ukraine's proposed new church may prove to be a "giant with the feet of clay," Volkov said, stressing that this structure has barely taken shape but is already "falling apart at the seams."

"Even if it will be created by politicians, it will still soon cease to exist," he predicted.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 11, 2018 14:30:37 GMT -5

Ukrainian parliament has passed a law, which gives Nazi-collaborating nationalist fighters, who fought against the Soviet Union after the end of World War II, the same status as the people who fought against Nazis during the war.

Ukraine’s current nation-building effort puts it at odds with other nations because Kiev seeks to glorify different forces that wanted an independent Ukrainian state, regardless of what crimes they may have committed. The most awkward legacy comes with the radical Ukrainian nationalists, who were active in the first half of 20th century.

They started by targeting Polish officials in what is now western Ukraine with a campaign of terrorism. Later they sided with Nazi Germany during World War II hoping that Adolf Hitler would make Ukraine independent, but then turned against him after their expectations proved wrong.

Both in collaboration with the Nazis and as an independent force the nationalists conducted mass killings of Poles and Jews. After the war they found support from the CIA and waged a guerrilla war against the Soviet authorities until they were quashed in the mid-1950s.

This week the Ukrainian parliament passed a law, which extends the honorable status of a war veteran, to additional members of OUN-UPA – the nationalist organization and its military wing. Previously only those who fought against the Nazis were granted the privilege on par with soldiers and officers of the Red Army. But under the new legislation the anti-Soviet guerillas will be considered war veterans too.

“This law is denial of the Holocaust, a falsification of history, a gesture of contempt to their country, its people and European [values],” Eduard Dolinsky, a prominent Ukrainian Jewish activist said, lashing out at the 236 MPs, who voted for the bill.

Dolinsky, the firebrand critic of Ukraine’s glorification of OUN-UPA, leads the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, a Kiev-based Jewish advocacy group with international recognition. He often blasts the latest move by Ukrainian authorities to elevate the mass murderers on his Facebook page.

“With laws like this modern Ukraine takes upon itself responsibility for the war crimes, which those units had committed,” he pointed out. “Those crimes have no statute of limitations, so the victims of those crimes and their heirs may sue Ukraine in international courts for damage.”

Earlier Ukrainian MPs filed a motion to honor Stepan Bandera, the leader of OUN, by bestowing an order of Hero of Ukraine on him. The nationalist leader briefly was given the highest Ukrainian award by President Viktor Yushchenko, but the decision was overturned by a court.

Petro Poroshenko has met the country's elite troops – paratroopers – ahead of their redeployment to bolster the “partial” martial law state. One of the soldiers openly sported an insignia of a Waffen SS division.

“Looking at your hardened, courageous faces, I once again realize nobody will overcome Ukraine. We are ready to protect our land with weapons in hands, to fight for each piece, we will not give it up to anyone,” Poroshenko told the troops while speaking in the region of Zhitomir on Thursday.

The president stood for photos with the servicemen, who were to be redeployed to other, “dangerous” regions of the country to prop up the 30-day period of the so-called “partial” martial law that Poroshenko announced following the Kerch Strait incident.

One of the troopers, standing just a few steps away from Ukraine's president proudly displayed the insignia of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf right on his chest. Here he is.

No, he is not a member of any paramilitary units, involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which have been repeatedly accused of having strong neo-Nazi links, but a serviceman with – supposedly – elite Ukrainian airborne troops.

While the large insignia of the notorious Nazi division could hardly go unnoticed, multiple pictures of the trooper were shared by the president on social media. The soldier is also featured on the website of the presidential administration, as well as in the official video of Poroshenko's speech.

The most peculiar insignia choice did not escape the eyes of internet users who blasted Poroshenko for openly “promoting” Nazi symbols.

Another user “praised” Poroshenko for “finally admitting” that the Ukrainian troops are “fascists.”

“To shamelessly put SS symbols on public display – is a strong move. Bravo!” he added.

As World War II kicked off, the Totenkopf Division was created from the SS personnel of death camps and SS paramilitary units, involved in the massacres of Polish civilians. The unit fought both on western and eastern fronts during the war, committing more war crimes in progress. The division, as well as all the other SS troops were deemed war criminals during the Nuremberg trials.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 11, 2018 14:37:34 GMT -5

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday signed a law terminating the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia. Ukraine’s parliament, Verkhovna Rada, upheld the president’s decision not to extend the Treaty on December 6. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had already notified the Russian Foreign Ministry in late September that the document would be terminated on April 1, 2019. Poroshenko wrote on Facebook that the decision not to extend the treaty “should be considered not just as an episode but as part of our strategy to finally break with our colonial past and pivot towards Europe.” He sees “visa-free travels, the Ukraine-EU Association agreement and a tomos of autocephaly for the Ukrainian Church” as well as withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States, as parts of this strategy.

“It is true that Ukraine is a constant problem for the European Security System,” George Katrougalos told the Greek Kokkino radio broadcaster when asked to comment on the recent maritime incident in the Black Sea when a group of Ukrainian ships illegally crossed into the Russian territorial waters. He added that “the last thing that we need is another hotspot of tension … at the heart [of Europe]” and vowed to raise this issue at a meeting of the EU foreign ministers.

The minister also referred to Ukraine as a “troubled and complicated” area, adding that the crisis there could be resolved only through “respect for the international law” and “belief that [all the] differences can be resolved only through dialog.” He then called for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements by saying that the accords provide all the necessary “political steps to bring the situation back to normal.”

Speaking about his country’s relations with Russia, the Greek diplomat called a recent meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President Vladimir Putin an “absolute success,” adding that the two nations enhanced their cooperation and put their relations on a “better basis.”

It is important not to let any differences become a defining element of bilateral relations, Katrougalos said as he spoke about a brief spat in relations between Moscow and Athens this summer after Greece expelled two Russian diplomats. “Both sides agreed [to put] it behind us,” he said, adding that relations between Russia and Greece have traditionally been good and the current Greek government seeks to keep them this way.

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OF COURSE!!! Two Ukrainian Sailors Captured at Kerch Revealed to Be SBU Intelligence Assets.

Vesti NewsDec 10, 2018

The FSB has added completely new details to the case of when the Ukrainian Navy attempted to break through underneath the Crimean Bridge.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 11, 2018 14:48:00 GMT -5

Leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces plan to launch an ‘all-out offensive’ against the self-proclaimed republic. He made the claim during a statement in Donetsk on Tuesday.

"We have received alarming reports from our intelligence service about Ukraine’s plans to unleash an all-out offensive. In particular, we have information that Kiev is going to resume military actions,” he said.

“The enemy formed an assault group which consists of four brigades comprising a total of 12,000 people. They have over 50 tanks and a great number of rocket artillery including the high-powered Smerch multiple rocket launchers,” Pushilin said, adding that the launchers allegedly took up positions near the settlement of Volodarskoe three days ago.

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Kiev’s Government Deploys the SBU Against the Orthodox Church; Uses Turkish Primate as Justification.

Vesti NewsDec 11, 2018

Every time it seems to us here that it couldn't get worse in Ukraine and the relationship with Ukraine couldn't be worse than it is now. But it seems that we are wrong about that. Maybe. A civil war is already ongoing there and it seems that a religious one is coming.

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Cost of independence: Ukraine pays record high price for ‘European’ gas.

RT.com12 Dec, 2018 14:55

Prices for gas imported by Ukraine from European countries hit a record high in November, according to data published by the country’s State Fiscal Service. The gas is most likely Russian in origin resold to Kiev at a premium.

The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine calculated an average cost of imported natural gas that formed during its customs clearance when it enters the territory of Ukraine.

“The price totaled some 9,472 hryvnia ($339.2) per thousand cubic meters of the fuel,” the statement said, as quoted by the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency UNIAN.

In October, Kiev reportedly bought the vital fuel at $323.44 per thousand cubic meters, while the September price amounted to $304.36, compared to $261.1 paid in February.

Ukraine is paying an excessive price for gas with the numbers revealed by the government being “self-incriminating,” according to head of the National Energy Security Foundation Konstantin Simonov.

“The price is very high. It is necessary to take into account Russia’s proximity. Ukraine is very close to Russia logistically, and could get gas at lower prices compared to European consumers,” Simonov said in an interview with RT.

The analyst highlighted Kiev’s groundless pride over the fact that Ukraine doesn’t have any commercial contacts with “dangerous Russia.”

“However, Kiev still insists on transits of the fuel from Russia to Europe,” he said. “Due to its own stubborn streak Ukraine has lost colossal amounts of cash.”

Earlier, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Kiev halted purchases of Russian natural gas as early as in 2015. However, Ukraine reportedly continues buying reverse supplies of Russian gas at the higher price from European nations. The minister stressed that it’s not vital for Russia as actual volume of exports and export revenues remain the same.

Earlier this year, Ukraine’s Naftogaz Commercial Director Yuriy Vitrenko said the average price of gas from European suppliers exceeded the price of gas from Gazprom by almost 34 percent.

In October, the Ukrainian government announced a rise in household gas tariffs by more than 23.5 percent to unlock multi-billion-dollar loans from the IMF.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 14, 2018 19:02:41 GMT -5

Kiev may start major offensive in rebellious east ‘within days’ – Moscow.

RT.com13 Dec, 2018 10:11

The Ukrainian government is reportedly preparing a provocation in the east, which will be used to launch a major offensive operation against rebel forces, Moscow said. It may happen in days and would affect the presidential poll.

The Ukrainian military has amassed troops in Kiev-controlled eastern parts of the country, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday citing reports from international monitors. Moscow believes it to be a sign of a looming escalation between the Ukrainian government and rebel forces.

“There are reports that within several days Kiev will stage an armed provocation on the contact line,” Maria Zakharova said, referring to the border, which separates rebel-held parts of Ukraine from the rest of the country.

She added that martial law, imposed by the government in the east last month, will allow for the mounting of a “lightning offensive from the direction of Mariupol aimed at capturing territories on the Azov sea coast up to Russia’s border.”

Martial law was imposed in some parts of Ukraine in response to an incident in the Black Sea. Ukrainian ships attempted to pass through the Kerch Strait, a narrow corridor controlled by Russia, situated south of the Azov Sea which separates Crimea from mainland Russia.

According to Russia, the Ukrainian Navy boats were ignoring instructions from maritime traffic control, so Russian border guards had to intervene and detain the violators. Ukraine called the incident an act of military aggression by Moscow.

Zakharova reiterated that martial law is likely meant to keep Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko in power. His approval ratings give him little hope for reelection, but an escalation of hostilities in the east will serve as a popularity boost. And if that would not be enough, martial law gives the legal ground to cancel the election altogether, she pointed out.

Ukraine won't buy Russian gas to keep warm, but two-thirds of its coal imports still come from Russia, according to the country's State Fiscal Service.

Ukraine’s purchases of hard coal grew to nearly $2.7 billion from January through November 2018, marking a year-on-year surge of more than 10 percent, according to official government data.

The fiscal office noted that neighboring Russia accounted for nearly 62 percent of the country’s total imports of anthracite. Russia exported $1.67 billion worth of coal, followed by the US, whose anthracite exports reached almost 30 percent of the Ukrainian market or $806.3 million. Canada is the third biggest supplier of coal to Ukraine, with exports worth $128.7 million, accounting for nearly five percent of Ukraine’s purchases.

Coal-rich Ukraine has been struggling with serious shortages of anthracite since the middle of 2014, when Kiev lost control over its eastern territories, where most of the country’s coal mines are located. However, supplies had been continued until January 2017, when the railways leading to the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk were blocked by Kiev-backed militant groups.

Ukraine's coal mining industry has been in a dramatic decline over recent years. The country’s coal mining companies reportedly reduced operations by 1.3 million tons or 5.1 percent from January to September of 2018 against the same period a year ago.

In an attempt to maintain coal supplies, Kiev had to turn to foreign producers. In 2017, the report by the US Energy Information Administration revealed that the US, Ukraine’s second-biggest coal supplier, almost tripled the price for coal shipped to the country.

Unlike the 2014 Ukraine uprising, which witnessed invasive meddling on the part of US politicians and diplomats, Western support for the French Yellow Vest protests has been conspicuously missing in action.

The streets of Paris are ablaze for a fourth weekend in a row, as a swarm of Yellow Vests assert themselves against a French government which, they argue, has become increasingly detached from the cares of ordinary citizens. Yet support among Western capitals for the protesters is nowhere to be found.

That is a bit odd since the ‘gilets jaunes’ are not just protesting Macron’s (rescinded) plans for a fuel tax, but have released a list of 42 demands they want to see implemented. This includes an increase of the minimum wage, pensions and wages, as well as a halt to illegal immigration into the country. In other words, these are not anarchists roaming the streets of France, but regular citizens who have had enough. And the movement enjoys a high level of support among the French, with one poll showing 72 percent siding with the protesters.

The US and its allies will have trouble explaining their tone-deafness in the face of these legitimate concerns on the part of millions of French citizens. Their icy silence reveals glaring double standards and hypocrisy since the West rarely misses an opportunity to interfere in the affairs of foreign states – mostly in the Middle East – when ‘democracy’ is purportedly on the line.

Consider Washington’s starkly different attitude to Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan revolution, which brought down the government of Viktor Yanukovich through the explicit support of the United States, as well as a number of influential NGOs operating in the country.

Yanukovich committed the unforgivable mistake of thinking he would be allowed to pursue an independent course for his country, despite the fact that since 1992, the US had spent over $5 billion propping up ‘democracy-building programs’ in Ukraine.

Did Kiev really think that Washington would not eventually expect something in return for all those dollars, like maybe deciding who would eventually rule the Eastern European country on Russia’s border? And that is exactly what happened.

When Yanukovich signaled that he would not sign Ukraine up to an EU trade deal, he awoke a sleeping giant below his feet. Several weeks after the announcement, as his country was becoming increasingly divided over its options, the late US Senator John McCain appeared in central Kiev where he tossed dry wood on the smoldering fires by proclaiming at a rally on Independence Square, “Ukraine will make Europe better, and Europe will make Ukraine better…America is with you.”

What could have motivated Washington to blatantly interfere in the affairs of Ukraine, while ignoring the French ‘gilets jaunes’ that are now fanning out across France, protesting the neo-Liberal policies of President Emmanuel Macron? Could the answer have anything to do with something as simple as money? That certainly seems to be a large part of the equation.

After all, steering Kiev away from Russia, Western officials understood, would pay off handsome dividends for Western lending institutions, like the International Monetary Fund, which had already lent Kiev billions of dollars to stay afloat. The West was fiercely opposed to the idea of Russia and China becoming ‘lenders of last resort’, a financial and political function that the Western world covets more than any other, with the possible exception of military interventionism against sovereign states.

Fast forward one year after John McCain was agitating rallies in Kiev, and Victoria Nuland was handing out cookies to the protesters, and we find Ukraine, under the new leadership of the US-anointed President Petro Poroshenko, inking a $17.5bn (£11.5bn) loan deal with the IMF, together with the painful austerity measures that always accompany the bags of cash.

Presently, there are no such financial incentives in France that would convince Western capitals to ‘rally on behalf of democracy’ as it had done without delay in Ukraine.

This glaringly hypocritical position with regards to the French protesters reveals a deeply flawed, cart-before-the-horse Western axiom that commands: ‘whatever works to the advantage of Western institutions and its political elite is automatically good for democracy.’ This does not exclude social upheaval and revolution. If violence in the streets translates into the empowerment of Western institutions, not least of all the global financial institutions, then such actions will be rewarded with Western support without a moment’s thought.

Today, Emmanuel Macron, 40, the former Rothschild investment banker known as “president of the rich” by his countrymen, is facing the prospect of an early political demise, no less than Viktor Yanukovich faced in 2014.

Indeed, to say that Macron’s popularity among the French is in the toilet would be putting the situation mildly.

As one local English-language French magazine summed up his plight: Macron is “long-hated by the extreme-leftist groups because of his past as a banker… detested by the far-right because of his pro-European, globalist beliefs and now hated by many ordinary French people, who see him as arrogant, aloof and unsympathetic to their problems.”

Yet, not a single Western politician to date has appeared in the French capital, rallying the protesters and demanding Macron step aside; nor has any top-ranking US diplomat been spotted handing out cookies to the French rabble as Victoria Nuland did in Kiev at the height of Ukrainian tensions.

Incidentally, with such stark images in mind, it is simply outrageous that the US can actually accuse Russia of meddling in its political affairs, and without a shred of evidence to back the claims. But I digress.

The simple reason that no Western country has come out to condemn Macron is because he toes the line on neo-liberalism and extreme free-market economics that has ravaged the French middle class to the breaking point. The fuel hike was just the proverbial straw that broke the voters’ back.

It would be no exaggeration to say that all segments of French society have become caught up in the protests. Today we see hundreds of French schools, for example, shutting down as students take to the streets to protest Macron’s unpopular education reform. Pensioners are also counted among the protesters after Macron lectured them to stop “whining” about spending cuts, at the very same time he was slashing taxes for the wealthy.

Clearly, there is nothing about Macron that Western leaders can find not to their liking. He is carrying out painful liberal reforms and austerity programs with gusto, and only under pain of usurpation does he backpedal on his political program. Although the rudderless French president may fancy himself as a modern-age Napoleon, acting tough with his subjects to get what he wants, ultimately it will be the French street that decides his fate, which at the moment looks very bleak.

Such a brutal wake-up call may very well be in store for many more Western neo-liberal leaders, who fail to check the pulse of their people when advocating their deeply unpopular policies, in the weeks and months to come.

Patriarch Bartholomew was wrong to declare Ukraine is no longer subject to the Russian Orthodox Church as the conflict hurts the entire Orthodoxy, believes Metropolitan Kallistos, a leading bishop of the Constantinople patriarchy.

Kallistos (Timothy Ware) is an Oxford-based bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and one of the most respected Orthodox theologians today. In a recent interview with Slovo Bozhie (the word of God), a Russian Orthodox news website, he acknowledged that the escalation was initiated by Constantinople.

“I feel that it was unwise of the Patriarch of Constantinople unilaterally to say the agreement of 1676 is cancelled. After all, as Aristotle says ‘even God cannot change the past’

He is referring to the 17th century letter, which acknowledged the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church to appoint the metropolitan of Kiev, the highest bishop in Ukraine. In October, Constantinople announced it was revoking this right as part of its effort to create an independent Orthodox church in Ukraine, which would include the recognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which answers to Moscow, and two self-proclaimed churches that are considered schismatic by other churches.

Kallistos said that, with all due respect to Patriarch Bartholomew, he agreed with the Patriarchate of Moscow that “Ukraine belongs to the Russian Church.”

“This is a fact of history that Ukraine has belonged to the Russian Church. I believe therefore, it has been a mistake for the Ecumenical Patriarch to give autocephaly to the two schismatic bishops – Philaret and Makary,” he said, referring to the leaders of the two unrecognized churches in Ukraine. The same decision of Constantinople in October declared them legitimate priests in defiance of Moscow’s position to the contrary.

The Russian Orthodox Church responded to the development by breaking up communion with Constantinople, arguing that since they recognize the two schismatic priests, the entire patriarchy is spiritually tainted. Among other things, the breakup means that priests belonging to the two jurisdictions are no longer allowed to conduct religious services together, at least from Moscow’s standpoint. Kallistos believes it to be a great mistake.

“I am troubled by the actions of the Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Church. I am disturbed that they have broken of communion with Constantinople,” he stressed.

The reason is not only that a quarrel between two of the most influential Orthodox Churches goes against the brotherly spirit they should promote. Kallistos says, for Eastern Orthodoxy, Holy Eucharist and the Divine Liturgy are the foundation of church unity, which is not the case for other branches of Christianity.

“We do not look to the secular state to keep us together. It is the Holy Mysteries which hold us in unity,” he said. For comparison, the Catholic Church is to a large degree bound together by the authority of the Pope, “a juridical rather than a liturgical principle of unity.” And the Protestants find common ground in emphasis on personal faith of the believers, he explained.

The metropolitan suggested that Constantinople and Moscow should seek to overcome their differences through a convention of primates of all Orthodox churches, since their schism affects the entire Orthodox Christianity.

In the interview, Kallistos also spoke about Eastern Orthodoxy’s history as a state religion from Byzantium times, his views on the life of the Russian Orthodox Church under communism and in modern Russia, the ecumenical movement in Christianity, his personal path to becoming an Orthodox priest and his fondness for Russian culture.

The head of the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate expressed his gratitude to the ex-CIA associate director, acknowledging his support for the church’s break with Moscow.

Patriarch Filaret presented former CIA Associate Director Jack Devine with the Order of St. Andrew, the church’s highest decoration, local media reported on Thursday. The cleric thanked Devine for the US’ support for Ukraine’s independence and “the creation of the unified autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

Since the split from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate in the early 1990s, Filaret has pursued autocephaly (religious autonomy) for his church. Religious officials in Moscow do not recognize his authority and view his church as schismatic.

It was around that time that Jack Devine took charge of the CIA’s operations outside the US, becoming the agency’s associate director. Upon his retirement in 1999, Devine co-founded corporate intelligence firm The Arkin Group. He is also a member of the influential Council on Foreign Relations.

Receiving the award this week, Devine voiced his “sincere admiration” for the “support” Ukrainians have shown for Filaret’s push for autonomy from Moscow, local media reported. The former spymaster also praised his “outstanding role” in establishing an independent church in Ukraine.

It is not the first time the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kiev Patriarchate has bestowed a prestigious award on high-profile US nationals. In 2015, Filaret awarded Senator John McCain with the Order of St. Vladimir First Class for his “support for Ukraine during the Russian occupation of Crimea and Donbas.”

An elite Ukrainian airborne trooper who was pictured wearing an emblem of a Nazi unit during a visit of the president, claims he thought the skull and bones was simply a pirate flag.

The insignia of the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, which the soldier showed off last week on his chest next to a Ukrainian flag, is a version of the ‘death’s head’ symbol, which was used since at least the times of the Knight Templars. The Jolly Roger features it too, so we should perhaps give the benefit of the doubt to the young warrior, who may have just made a blunder in trying to connect with his inner adventurer by putting the skull and bones on his uniform.

“I want to stress that I used it out of ignorance thinking it to be a kind of a pirate flag. I acknowledge my mistake and am prepared to take responsibility for it,” the man said in a video statement published on Thursday by Ukraine’s airborne troops, to which he belongs.

This is a ridiculously easy mistake that some Ukrainian men connected to the military or paramilitary seem to be making these days. Take, for example, Viktor Vasyanovich, a veteran featured in an exhibition produced in 2016 by a Ukrainian glamour magazine. For some reason, he wore a hoodie with the exact same insignia when giving an interview about the project.

Of course, it later turned out that under the hoodie he had the Nazi eagle and swastika, but he probably inked it by mistake too. It could just as easily belong to an Indian ornithology association or something. Who would have thought that a couple of honest mistakes would force the organizers to withdraw his bare-chested photo when the exhibition was brought to the European Parliament?

Or take Natalia Kotskovitch, a journalist with the news channel owned by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. She probably didn’t know that the gesture used as a salute by Ancient Roman generals and neo-pagans had something to do with Nazism. So when she posted pictures of herself performing the salute, it must have been out of ignorance, right?

Or take another case of striking resemblance involving Ukraine’s far-right Azov Battalion, which used several floodlights for one of its ceremonies – but that probably had nothing to do with the ‘Cathedral of Light’ arrangement used by the Nazis. Just a coincidence again?

In his video address, the pirate-spirited soldier and a couple of his fellow troopers say how sorry they are that his mistake helped to fuel “Russian propaganda,” spreading “lies” about the Ukrainian armed forces.

They end with a resounding “Glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes!” – a phrase recently adopted as the official slogan by the nation’s military. Sure, it may have been used by Nazi-collaborating units of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, but why would anyone object to the modern-day use of the phrase or perceive it as having Nazi connotations? Kiev considers it patriotic and nothing more.

The Israeli ambassador to Kiev has expressed outrage, after a region in Ukraine dedicated the year 2019 to the prominent nationalist leader and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.

Joel Lion took to Twitter on Thursday to say he was “shocked” after the Lviv region honored Bandera in this manner. The move was to mark the 110th anniversary of Bandera’s birth.

Lion’s remarks reference the fact that, before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) had collaborated with the Nazis. However, his friendship with them didn’t last long and Bandera was arrested and imprisoned by the Germans.

Bandera is accused of condoning the ethnic cleansing of thousands of Poles in what is now western Ukraine, and Jewish groups have linked his followers to the mass murder of Jews.

Even so, many in Ukraine still regard Bandera as a hero, with lawmakers from Ukraine’s two biggest parties filing a motion earlier this month for President Petro Poroshenko to posthumously grant him the ‘Hero of Ukraine’ award.

In their note, they said Bandera “fought for Ukrainian statehood against the Soviet and German occupation regimes” and became an “embodiment and symbol” of the struggle for Ukrainian independence, turning into “one of the main enemies” of both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The award bestowed by Lviv comes after the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr declared 2019 the year of Stepan Bandera in July. The controversial figure has been made an honorary citizen of dozens of cities in western Ukraine.

Ukraine has been seeing a rise in nationalism since the 2014 coup that launched the current government to power. In January, some 6,500 people across Ukraine marched to commemorate Bandera’s birthday, and dozens of events were held to honor him.

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Head of Russian Orthodox Church urges world leaders to stop Kiev from tampering with religion.

RT.com14 Dec, 2018 21:30

The fate of millions of faithful and over 200 monasteries are in the hands of Ukraine’s president, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said, urging the international community to stop Kiev from deepening the religious rift.

“Recently, the interference of the leaders of the secular Ukrainian state in church affairs has grown into a blatant pressure on the episcopate and clerics of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, what allows us to speak of the beginning of the large-scale persecutions,” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in a letter sent to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, head of the Anglican Communion Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, as well as other religious leaders and top politicians.

The fate of “over two hundred monasteries and millions of faithful” is currently in the hands of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, who, “in concert with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople” seeks to create “some new religious organization” to replace the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the letter reads.

The letter came on Friday, just ahead of the so-called “unification council” scheduled for December 15. The event has been actively championed by the country’s top government officials. The gathering is supposed to bring Orthodox hierarchs together and create a new, allegedly “independent” church. The only canonical religious entity of the country – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – is a constituent part of Moscow Patriarchate. The vast majority of its hierarchs are not expected to partake in the “unification council.”

Active involvement of government officials in the drive for the supposed church independence is actually a blatant breach of the country’s constitution, Patriarch Kirill stressed.

“The Ukrainian President himself does not make secret his hostile attitude towards the Church. Mr. Petro Poroshenko publicly threatened to banish from the country those Ukrainians who do not want to join the “autocephalous church” which is being created by the government,” the letter reads.

“The Constitution of Ukraine stipulates that ‘the church and religious organizations in Ukraine are separated from the state’ and therefore any interference of the state in inter-church relations is unconstitutional.”

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 15, 2018 7:38:13 GMT -5

Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchs refuse to take part in Poroshenko’s ‘unification council’

RT.com15 Dec, 2018 05:53

Hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church have refused en masse to take part in the so-called ‘unification council’ championed by the country’s president, sending “invitations” to the event back without reply.

The unification council kicks off on Saturday in Kiev. The event, announced by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko himself in early December, is supposed to “bring together” members of various Orthodox Churches of the country to create a new, “independent” church.

While the event has been pompously hailed by the country’s senior officials, things look rather bleak since the only canonical religious organization – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate – refused to take part. The head of the Church, Kiev Metropolitan Bishop Onufriy, returned his “invitation” (effectively an ultimatum) back to the sender.

The mailbox of the man who sent the invitations – the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I – has apparently been full of late, since 56 hierarchs have already followed suit, the Church said on Thursday. Apart from them, the Church’s bishops refused to take the invitations in the first place.

While Ukraine boasts two other self-styled Orthodox ‘churches’, one of which even has its own self-proclaimed ‘patriarch’, any sort of unification council with the majority of schismatics in attendance would effectively be void, experts have repeatedly warned.

“A significant presence of the canonical church is a must, since it will be just a schismatic gathering, which can only create yet another schismatic religious institution,” senior fellow with the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, Oleg Nemenskiy, earlier told RT.

The ongoing church rift was triggered by the move of the Constantinople Patriarchy earlier this year to send its exarchs to Kiev. The move violated the principle of non-interference in affairs of other Churches, observed by the Orthodox Church, and caused a bitter row with the Moscow Patriarchate.

The “independent” status of the church, desired by senior Ukrainian officials, has turned out to be much less impressive than initially advertised. Earlier this month, the Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarchate unveiled a draft statute for the yet-to-be-founded church. It puts the entity in a position entirely subordinate to Constantinople. If this church actually emerges, it would be far more restricted in its actions than the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. While it is a constituent part of the Moscow Patriarchate, it is essentially free to act on its own, while only its head must be approved in Moscow.

Ukraine has created an Orthodox church of its own, proclaiming “independence from Moscow.” While the majority of its hierarchs represented schismatic “churches,” Kiev authorities have hailed a supposed “unity” they have achieved.

The so-called “unity council” took place on Saturday in Kiev, with the country’s president Petro Poroshenko and other top officials in attendance. The overwhelming majority of participants represented two non-canonical entities – the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the self-styled ‘Kiev Patriarchy’ and the so-called Ukrainian autocephalous Orthodox Church. The two unrecognized entities have announced voluntary dissolution ahead of the event.

Just two hierarchs from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy participated in event, metropolitan bishops Simeon and Aleksandr. The Church as a whole refused to partake in the gathering, denouncing it as schismatic.

Metropolitan bishop Simeon even ran for the post of the head of the new entity, yet lost to ‘metropolitan’ Epiphany, who had been a hierarch within the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate.

The head of the schismatic entity –self-styled ‘patriarch’ Filaret– has received the lifetime title of ‘Honorary Patriarch’ within the new structure. The title appears to be not without clout, since it’s established in the charter of the new church, which was adopted at the gathering as well.

It was not immediately clear what exact wording the document contains, since it was reportedly being actively negotiated until the last minute. The draft variant, however, which was unveiled earlier this month, made the new church fully subordinate to the Constantinople Patriarchate, regardless of all the talk about “independence.”

Constantinople has already expressed its support for the new religious entity, confirming it will recognize it officially in early January, which likely means the adopted charter suits Patriarch Bartholomew well.

The gathering, however, was swiftly denounced by the Russian Orthodox Church, which branded its decisions to be “void.”

“The non-canonical gathering … under general the guidance of a layman and the country’s head, as well as a foreigner, who doesn’t know the local language, has picked a non-canonical ‘bishop’ to become an equally non-canonical ‘primate,’” deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate, Protoiereus Nikolay Balashov, said, adding that the whole event meant “nothing” to the Church.

A similar opinion was voiced by the Belarusian Orthodox Church – subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate – which ruled out any official contacts with the new Ukrainian entity, calling it “evidently schismatic.”

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Ukraine: New breakaway Ukrainian Orthodox Church holds first service.

RuptlyDec 16, 2018

Metropolitan Epifaniy, the newly-elected head of the now independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, held his first liturgy inside Kiev's St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery on Sunday.

The divine service began at 10am local time (08:00 GMT) and was attended by around 200 bishops, priests and laymen.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodoxy, recognised the independence of the breakaway church on October 11.

The Holy Synod, the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church, cut ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, after it recognised the new self-governing, or autocephalous, Ukrainian Church.

Post by TsarSamuil on Dec 18, 2018 17:05:30 GMT -5

A Ukrainian MP and ex-head of ultra-nationalist Right Sector has called for all priests loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church to ‘hunted down’ and ousted. It came after Kiev proclaimed its church to be independent from Moscow.

Until last weekend there were three Orthodox Christian churches in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an internationally-recognized autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The two others were self-proclaimed and universally considered schismatic.

On Saturday, the latter two unified into an Orthodox Church of Ukraine, an organization purporting to be part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Priests of the canonical Church were invited to participate and break ties with Moscow, but only two did.

According to Dmitro Yarosh, a far-right Ukrainian MP, the Ukrainian priests who stayed loyal to the Russian Orthodox Church, should now be ‘hunted’ and ousted from the country. The representative got his current seat in the Parliament in the wake of the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, in which members of the Right Sector group, which he headed, played the part of the opposition fighting force. He remains a respected figure in the circles of Ukrainian extreme nationalists.

Yarosh shared what could be considered a call for violence on Sunday on his Facebook page, which has since apparently been suspended by the social network. The statements however were cited by many media outlets prior to the suspension.

“The clergy of the so-called UOC MP (Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), who failed to find national courage, strength and reasons to join the Ukrainian Church are not servants of God, but agents of [Russian security service] FSB and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, which makes them Enemies of Ukraine,” Yarosh declared. He added that he considers Putin, who by many accounts is a practicing Orthodox believer, ‘a satanist.’

An adherent of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is not part of the Eastern Orthodoxy and sees the Pope as its leader, Yarosh believes the new Ukrainian church will eventually become one with his and be recognized by both the Vatican and Constantinople.

The religious reform in Ukraine is seen by many as President Petro Poroshenko’s reelection campaign. Constantinople promises to declare the newly-created church independent from itself next year, before the election is held in late March. The president was present at the Saturday gathering as a co-chair and addressed crowds of Ukrainians after the decision, declaring the new organization ‘free from Putin’.

On the path to the unification of the schismatics Poroshenko repeatedly stressed that priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will not be persecuted for not joining the new church. But with Poroshenko’s rhetoric being so close to that of Yarosh, there are fears this promise is far from being a certainty.

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More US weapons to Ukraine will only make conflict worse – Russian lawmakers.

RT.com17 Dec, 2018 20:47

Additional and “ongoing” US weapons deliveries to Kiev would escalate tensions and undermine efforts for peace in Ukraine, Russian officials said after US special envoy Kurt Volker announced such plans, along with more sanctions.

“Moving through Congress is a military financing package of around $250 million and the ability to sell additional equipment,” Volker told reporters in Brussels on Monday. “Within the next months there will be some announcements about the first tranches. And it will be ongoing.”

He also claimed that Ukraine is “under attack” by Russia and advocated for a Western military presence near or even inside that country, to “raise the visibility of Russia’s actions.”

The notion of imposing additional sanctions on Russia over the November 25 maritime incident in the Kerch Strait seems to be “gaining some traction” among Washington’s allies in Europe, Volker said, hinting it might happen “in the next month or two.”

Russian lawmakers slammed Volker’s statements as destructive, saying the US envoy was contributing to escalating tensions in Ukraine rather than resolving them peacefully.

“This confirms once again that the US regards Ukraine as a puppet and a proxy for implementing its aggressive designs against Russia,” Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chair of the Duma’s defense and security committee, told RT.

“By supplying Ukraine with any types of weapons, the US encourage the escalation of tensions with Russia in the first place, which of course does not benefit stability in the region,” Shvytkin added.

Talk of a western military presence is actually contributing to Ukraine’s unwillingness to implement the Minsk agreements and prolonging the conflict, the lawmaker argued. The Minsk process halted the open warfare between the two provinces in east Ukraine that refused to recognize the 2014 coup, and the government in Kiev, which has portrayed the conflict as “Russian aggression.”

Last month, three Ukrainian patrol ships attempted to forcibly sail from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea through the Kerch Strait, and were detained by the Russian coast guard. On Monday, Volker seemed to side with Kiev, and accused Russia of aggression against Ukraine.

“Russia did nothing illegal, so there is nothing for the US and its vassals to respond to,” Senator Olga Kovitidi, member of the Federation Council’s defense and security committee, told RT. “US actions are aimed at the global escalation of conflicts through incitement and unfair competition.”

Statements that qualify as “systemic provocations” have already become “an integral attribute of US foreign policy,” said Kovitidi.

“If the border of our country is violated by anyone, there will be an appropriate response,” said Shvytkin.

Volker became the US special representative to Ukraine in July 2017. His appointment was seen as a signal of a more hardline policy in Washington, given his previous service as the US envoy to NATO under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Though US President Donald Trump advocated better relations with Russia during his 2016 campaign, he has since gone along with hardliners in Washington due to the constant – but unsubstantiated – accusations that he “colluded” with Russia to “steal” the election from Hillary Clinton.

The Trump administration has already approved the sale of anti-tank missiles to Kiev, and budgeted $200 million for weapons deliveries in 2018, with an additional $250 million in the budget for the 2019 fiscal year.

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Yet Another Split in Ukraine! Schismatic New Church Forces Government Employes to Attend Service!

Vesti NewsDec 17, 2018

This Saturday's situation about the Ukrainian church is rather political. Also, it looks like a violation of human rights — it seems wrong when people want to pray in one church but are forced to go to the other. Anyway, we should remember the name of Epiphanius or Epifan in common parlance. It's a male name that means "manifested" in Greek. But the new head of the Ukrainian Church Epiphanius (secular name Dumenko) didn't manifest but rather was presented today in Kiev.

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Imminent Attack! Preparations Are Underway in Donbass, East of Ukraine Braces For the Worst!

Vesti NewsDec 17, 2018

In addition to the schism, there's a civil split in Ukraine between the two parts of the country after Petro Poroshenko introduced martial law in the ten regions which are the least loyal to him. Besides, everyone strongly suspects that Poroshenko is plotting a new war with Donbass.

The UN General Assembly has voted for a Ukraine-sponsored draft denouncing “militarization” of the Azov and Black Seas. About half of member-states abstained and Moscow said it’s like giving Kiev a blank check to scapegoat Russia.

Sixty-six countries voted in favor of the resolution and 19 against, while 72 countries abstained.

The resolution, brought forward by Ukraine, serves to accuse Russia of violating its sovereignty and territorial integrity by deploying military forces to Crimea. The document also accuses Moscow of restricting the freedom of navigation in the Azov Sea and condemns what Kiev sees as a similar ramped-up militarization in the Black Sea.

Before the vote, Syria and Iran proposed amendments to the resolution for more balance, which would have included a mention of the Minsk Agreements and Kiev's responsibility to abide by them. The agreements stipulate that both Kiev and the forces of the self-proclaimed breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine must observe a ceasefire, as well as withdraw troops and military hardware. Kiev also must ensure local elections take place in accordance with the law.

But the UN body rejected the amendments, resulting in what Russia has blasted as a one-sided resolution.

First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy pointed out the huge number of abstaining nations, “not wanting to have anything in common with the malignant Ukrainian plot.”

The UNGA vote sent a new, emboldening signal to Kiev, that “anything goes and everything will be pardoned, and Russia will be made a scapegoat.”

Still, the “deceitful” resolution will not change anything about the situation in Crimea or around it, the diplomat said. The real power to resolve the dispute lies with Washington, which has been pulling Kiev’s strings, Polyanskiy believes.

Referring to the incident in the Azov Sea that saw three Ukrainian military ships seized after violating Russian territorial waters, Polyanskiy said that it was a “thoroughly thought-out provocation, which has been ongoing under our eyes.”

“It was made possible thanks to the approval of the US and other countries playing along with the Ukrainian authorities’ narrative.”

Two gunboats and a tug boat were blocked, fired-at and seized by the Russian border guard after their Ukrainian crews ignored numerous warnings and requests to stop.

Moscow says that Ukraine failed to obtain proper clearance to pass the Kerch strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Azov Sea while it was temporarily closed to navigation.

Kiev, claiming it had followed all the right procedures, responded by imposing martial law in regions adjacent to the Russian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the standoff a provocation, aimed at suppressing Ukraine leader Petro Poroshenko’s political opponents ahead of the March presidential election, given that he’s facing a slump in approval ratings.

It later emerged that the seized vessels were armed beyond their regular loadouts and were planning a “stealth passage” of the strait, which separates mainland Russia and Crimea.

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US Orthodox priest blasts splitting of Ukrainian Church from Moscow as Poroshenko’s election ploy.

RT.com18 Dec, 2018 15:24

A US priest who joined the Russian Orthodox Church told RT the creation of Ukraine’s own church was done against any canonic rules and came conspicuously close to the 2019 presidential elections in the country.

Father Nectarios Trevino just recently moved from the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (ACROD) to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).

“My principal reason was because of my belief that the actions of the ecumenical patriarch [of Constantinople]… did not proceed in accordance with canonic law in order to create a national church [of Ukraine],” Father Nectarios told RT.

There are certain procedures that must be followed historically, he explained, adding that over the last centuries the Constantinople patriarch “acted very much unilaterally, establishing his own rules and doing what he wants and disregarding the wishes of other 14 autocephalous churches.”

There wasn’t a single autocephalous church that supported his desire to back creation of the Ukrainian Church, the priest said, “even the church of Greece did not support him.”

At the end of the day, if Orthodox churches don’t play by established set of rules “then we basically have created our own Pope who can do what he wants whenever he wants.”

“And that’s the Western way of thinking and Western way of doing things. That’s not the way the Orthodox way is supposed to act.”

Ukraine created an Orthodox church of its own on December 15, proclaiming “independence from Moscow.” Russian Orthodox Church dubbed the entity ‘non-canonical.’ The head of the schismatic church – self-styled ‘patriarch’ Filaret – has received the lifetime title of ‘Honorary Patriarch’ within the new structure.

But the move has more to do with politics than faith, Father Nectarios believes. “I think [Ukraine’s President Petro] Poroshenko is exploiting a political narrative, he is up for reelection, his popularity is very poor.”

“Right now it does not look like he [Poroshenko] will get reelected; maybe this will change things for him. He is changing the focus of the people from other areas of concern.”

Just two hierarchs from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchy participated in event, namely metropolitan bishops Simeon and Aleksandr. The Church as a whole refused to take part in the gathering preceding the Ukrainian Church’s creation, denouncing it as schismatic.

The nations which voted for the Ukrainian resolution on Crimea at the UN General Assembly will bear shared responsibility with Kiev, if it chooses to escalate tensions with Russia, a Russian senator said.

The resolution passed on Monday condemned the presence of the Russian military in the Crimean Peninsula and the surrounding waters of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. It also criticizes Russia for construction of a bridge connecting the region with mainland. The document was supported by 66 members of the UNGA, while 19 voted against it. The majority of nations – 72, abstained from the vote.

“The resolution is not just useless, even if it’s non-binding legally,” said Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Russian Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. “It may have political and military consequences. As a matter of fact, Kiev was given a go for all sort of action, even of the crazy kind.”

Ukraine is currently in a perilous political situation with presidential elections scheduled for late March. The incumbent President Petro Poroshenko is scheduled for a humiliating defeat, judging by his approval ratings, and has the incentive to escalate tensions with Russia in an attempt to rally public support.

He already declared martial law in some parts of Ukraine after an incident in the Kerch Strait – the location of the Crimean bridge – which involved Ukrainian and Russian military boats. Kosachev believes Poroshenko may initiate further escalation for purely domestic reasons, and the UNGA resolution would play into his hands.

“It means that the 66 nations, which voted for the odious resolution on Crimea, will share responsibility for whatever further action Kiev takes, if they lead to a tragedy,” the senator warned.

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted the lack of support for the document demonstrated by the large number of abstainers. “The Ukrainians don’t have the majority, so they will be trying to take this to other venues, since they realize that they cannot achieve any real change,” said Petr Ilyichev, the head of the ministry’s department for international organizations.

Senator Kosachev said that “militarization of Crimea” – the issue that the resolution is supposed to address – was simply Russia’s reaction to “Ukrainian military provocations” and the lack of reaction to them from Kiev’s foreign backers.

“Once the demonstrative military actions around Crimea stop, so will the ‘militarization’. It’s the consequence, not the cause.”

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Kiev’s Army is Ready for Donbass Offensive: 20,000 Soldiers With Support Systems Called Up!

Vesti NewsDec 18, 2018

Dozens of tanks, mortars, multiple-launch rocket systems and almost 20,000 soldiers. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are ready for a large-scale offensive in Donbass according to the DPR intelligence published by the republic's defense ministry. The estimated date is the beginning of next week.

Shoutbox

Proto-Orchid: @ussrstrong: I blame general low activity on social medias, all the people sit there todayOct 10, 2018 12:53:50 GMT -5

reznik: @proto-Orchid: very true. What's worse, is that the system is designed specifically to keep those people dormant in their echo chambers. Nothing new to learn for them there, just stupid cat videos and such. Sad.Oct 14, 2018 5:48:26 GMT -5

Proto-Orchid: Its the substitute for going out, meeting and spending your time with friends in real life. Its just part of the story. When I was younger I remember people were meeting to play team sports, but today you see completely autistic people jogging with iPhone.Oct 14, 2018 18:18:38 GMT -5

Proto-Orchid: Then they come back home, put pictures on Instagram or Facebook to show off how they spent their time jogging, and as mental satisfaction they get few likes or hearts, or whatever social medias have today, which is a measure of how good their life is. SickOct 14, 2018 18:21:43 GMT -5

Pan-Slavic Patriot: Sto Latz! Today marks 100 years of Polska! May there be 100 more! Wish I could have gone to the Independence March to celebrate this year, of all years. Theres always the next one to look forward to...Nov 11, 2018 6:56:57 GMT -5

Pan-Slavic Patriot: The latest flare up in the Ukraine-Russia conflict is painful to watch. Two brothers pit against one-another by foriegn elites, for what? Money and power... Sad.Nov 30, 2018 3:17:07 GMT -5

gioblack94: Hello,I'm the representative of the Bulgarians and the main coordinator of Bulgaria of a movement called:"The slavic movement".Our mission is to create a slavic union and we welcome everybody who wants to join our cause:https://discord.gg/gMh2ZmMay 18, 2020 9:10:02 GMT -5

WhiteGaysack: And what do you think OUR mission is since 2004?Jun 5, 2020 14:56:11 GMT -5